The Riley Evans Trilogy:Part 2 The Forgotten Curse
by Emeria-Cori
Summary: In this second installment of The Riley Evans Trilogy, Harry, Riley, and their friends all return to Hogwarts for their sixth year. Hogwarts becomes a dangerous place as an old curse infects many of the students and teachers...leaving them with no magic..
1. Their Lives

"Tara, Bridget, come here! Chris, and Jason you too!" Hermione called, as she was getting ready to go to Diagon Alley. She took out the children's suitcases and stood next to the fire.

"Ron would you get them!" she called to her husband Ron Weasley.

"Alright," Hermione heard Ron scream from up the stairs. Soon he came into the room followed by four children. Ron was also carrying a little two year old. The oldest, Jason, had red hair the same color as Ron's, and was going to be tall like his father. Chris was nine and had flaming red hair. Tara and Bridget were twin girls. Bridget had red hair and Tara had brown hair, the same color as Hermione. Bridget was a jokester like Ron. Tara was more like Hermione, and she loved reading. They both were six years old. The youngest was a three-year-old girl named Taylor, who had brown hair, the same color as Hermione's.

"Finally! We are going to be late," Hermione said, frowning. Ron walked over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Stop worrying. They all know how we are, we're always late," Ron said, sounding sure of himself. Tara came over and tugged on Ron's shirt.

"Daddy," she said, looking serious.

"Yes, sweetheart," Ron asked, kneeling on the ground to meet Tara's height.

"Are we going to see Uncle Harry?"

"Yes."

"What about Aunt Riley and Uncle Draco?" Chris asked, "Ashlea too?" Ron nodded and told the kids to all get together.

"Ok, do all of you remember how to use floo powder?" Hermione asked the children. They all said yes. Hermione breathed in deep.

"Hermione you, Chris, Taylor, and Jason can go first and I'll help the girls," Ron said smiling down at Bridget and Tara. Jason took a pinch of the powder and threw it in the fire. At once he was gone. Hermione looked back at Ron, looking concerned. Ron pointed to the fire. Next Chris went, he disappeared instantly. Then Hermione went, holding Taylor.

"Daddy, can I go first?" Bridget asked. Ron nodded.

"Now both of you, Mommy will be waiting for you. Now take a pinch of this powder. That's good, now throw it in the fire and say where you want to go. We are going to Diagon Alley." Ron said, as the girls reached into the bag, full of powder. Instantly Bridget disappeared. Tara looked up at Ron, and then also threw the powder into the flames. Ron took a deep breath, took some powder, and set the bag on the table. He threw in the powder and spoke the words "Diagon Alley". At once he was spinning, around and around. The whole world was blur of colors and flashes. He felt weightless. Suddenly, the world stopped spinning and he was standing in a store.

"Hey Ron, how have you been?" Harry was standing next to him, holding a young girl.

"Great, and this must be Shannon," Ron said, tickling the little girl in Harry's arms. She laughed and Harry put her down. She started to walk toward a woman with long dark brown hair pulled into a braid. The woman picked her up and came over to Harry and Ron.

"Hello Ron," she said.

"Hey Lina, where's David?"

"Oh he's out with your son," Lina pointed outside where David Potter and Jason Weasley were talking. A girl with light brown hair walked up to them. Ron looked over to his right and saw Bridget and Tara playing with a wand.

"Get off that you two," he said, running over to the twins. He grabbed both of them around their waists and pulled them back. Tara frowned and Bridget put her arms on her hips.

"I want that!" Bridget yelled. Ron heard Harry laugh from behind him. Tara stood next to Bridget, and also put her hands on her hips.

"No, your mother wouldn't be happy with me," Ron said, shooting a warning look at Harry, who had just walked next to the girls. Tara ran over to a shelf and picked up something.

"Can I get this then?" she asked, putting a large black leather book in front of his nose.

"No!" he screamed, and snatched the book from his daughter, " I forbid either of you to read that book." Harry looked at the book, and smiled.

"Now that would make Hermione happy," Harry said, laughing.

"No!" Ron said as he put the book back. They all walked into the street, where witches and wizards roamed. There were many children, rushing around with boxes and bags. There were also parents trying to keep up with their kids.

"Ron! How are you?" Riley came up to him and hugged him.

"I'm fine, where's Hermione?"

"Right over there," she said pointing to a bench, where Hermione was holding Taylor. Draco Malfoy was sitting next to her and they were in deep conversation.

"No! You really should become a teacher at Hogwarts, after all you were one of the best students," Draco was saying, as Ron walked over.

"Well, I couldn't leave Ron and the kids for that long…" she was answering.

"You know Hermione he is right," Ron walked over and sat down. Hermione smiled back at him. Riley walked over, followed by four children.

"Now here are my little darlings. Ashlea will be going to Hogwarts this year. Next we have Aimee, who now is ten, her birthday was last week. Then my boys Tyler, Kyle, and Bryan. They are all now six, almost seven. You remember them don't you?" Riley asked. Hermione nodded. Ashlea was the only child who had her mother's hair. The rest of them had Dracos blond hair. All the children, including Taylor, walked over to Harry's kids, Shannon and David.

"I can't believe that we have families now! It seems like only yesterday we were in the fifth year." Hermione said. They all smiled and looked over at their children. Ron got up and told them that he promised to get Bridget something.

"What did she want?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not getting her what she wanted," Ron said, trying to get away from her as fast as possible.

"What does she want, Ronald!" Hermione yelled, stomping her foot. Harry looked between the two of them and got up. He walked over to Ron.

"Really, Hermione it isn't important," Harry said. Hermione glared at both of them.

"Aw, it's so cute! Their acting like they did at school," Riley said. Draco walked up to Ron and Harry also.

"Don't pressure the man Hermione, if he doesn't want to tell you what your child wants, he doesn't have to."

"Draco, I can tell my husband to do whatever I want, and unless he doesn't want a cruel punishment he will get my beautiful daughter what she wants." Hermione said, sounding very angry.

"Fine!" Ron yelled, throwing his arms in the air, "She wanted, _Hogwarts a History_."

"Aw! My baby wanted _Hogwarts a History_!" Hermione cried, her whole face lighting up.

"Well she's my baby too! I don't want her reading that book," Ron yelled. Riley stepped up next to Hermione. Hermione frowned, then smiled suspiciously.

"Ron you will lose. The wives always win." Riley said, sending a sharp look to Draco.

"You know honey she's right," Hermione said walking past Ron, "Get Bridget that book." Lina who was standing behind Hermione walked by. Riley followed her. Ron looked back at them and started mumbling to himself. Harry and Draco couldn't help laughing at what had just happened.

"I never thought I would see the day Hermione actually got Ron to listen and obey," Draco said to Harry, who agreed. Ron walked up to the store, followed by Bridget who was skipping happily. They walked into the air-conditioned room and picked up the book from the bookshelf. After they paid or it Bridget ran down to Hermione.

"Mommy, daddy got me this book!" Bridget ran into Hermione's outstretched arms. Tara came over to Bridget and started looking through the book. Ron walked up to Hermione frowning.

"I hate that book," he mumbled. Hermione, Lina, and Riley started to laugh.

"Aw, poor baby," Hermione said sarcastically pinching Ron's cheek. Bridget started to run into the street, just as a plump witch, with a bad case of acne, was rolling a cart. Ron saw this and ran as fast as he could. He got Bridget's arm and yanked her out of the path.

"Bridget," Hermione yelled, running over. She hugged the little girl tight and kissed Ron.

"What were you doing sweetheart?" Ron asked.

"I was going to get my doll," Bridget pointed to the store, where they had bought, _Hogwarts A History_.

"I'll go get it," Ron said he walked up to the door of the store and disappeared inside. Hermione walked back over to the kids.

BANG

Pieces of rock were flying everywhere. The smell of smoke wafted through the air. Hermione looked behind her and saw the store Ron had walked into had blown up. There was no sign of him. Hermione looked around desperately. All her kids were fine and she ran over to get them all together. The twins started to cry. Jason had gotten away from Hermione and was looking around.

"Dad!" Jason yelled, his voice cracking a little. Harry looked up and saw this. He glanced at Hermione who had started to cry. Harry picked up Shannon and rocked her, as Lina helped David get up off the ground.

"Mommy, where's daddy?" Tara asked, joining Jason, who hadn't given up. Riley, Draco, Harry, Lina, and all their kids ran over to Hermione. They all sat down and cried.

An hour later Hermione was pacing around the waiting room, in the Diagon Alley hospital. Many people had heard about Ron and had come to help Hermione and her kids. Hagrid just walked in.

"'Ermione!" Hagrid yelled coming over to hug Hermione.

"Hagrid!" The wait was forever, finally a doctor came out.

"Your husband's injuries were severe, and… we lost him." Hermione stumbled as the doctor walked away. Harry and Lina caught her. Jason and Chris realized what was going on and started to weep. Hermione sat down shocked. All the color had left her face. Tara and Bridget walked up to Hermione.

"Mommy what's wrong?" Tara asked.

"Where did daddy go?" Bridget continued. Hermione burst into tears. Everyone crowded around her. Ron was dead.


	2. The Dream

"_Your husband's injuries were severe, and… we lost him." Hermione stumbled as the doctor walked away. Harry and Lina caught her. Jason and Chris realized what was going on and started to weep. Hermione sat down shocked. All the color had left her face. Tara and Bridget walked up to Hermione._

_"Mommy what's wrong?" Tara asked._

_"Where did daddy go?" Bridget continued. Hermione burst into tears. Everyone crowded around her. Ron was dead._

Hermione woke with a start. She was panting and sweat was pouring down her face. She looked over at Riley, who was also awake, writing. Riley looked up. Ginny stirred and also woke up once Hermione jumped out of bed, still in her pajamas. She ran down the hall of the Weasley's house. Riley and Ginny followed closely.

"Hermione! What are you doing?" Ginny cried, as they headed towards the boy's room. Hermione burst threw the door. Ron, Draco, and Harry were still asleep. Hermione jumped on Ron's bed and shook him awake.

"Hermione what…" Ron mumbled. She was shaking him furiously.

"Ron, you're still alive! You're still alive!" Hermione cried hugging Ron.

"Of course I'm still alive! Why wouldn't I?"

"You're alive! Ron's still alive," Hermione kept shrieking.

"You are lucky mom and dad are heavy sleepers," Fred and George Weasley stood at the door, smirking, "I don't think this would look good to them. You're in a very compromising position." The identical twins were right. Hermione was on top of Ron hugging him. She immediately backed off of Ron, who looked puzzled. Fred and George walked back to their rooms, still smiling like idiots. Ron stared at Hermione. Hermione stared at the door, and Harry stared at Ron.

"What was that about?" Ron asked, sitting straight up, "Do I look dead?" Hermione looked really embarrassed.

"No, I'm sorry," she said, blushing, " I just had really weird dream." Harry looked at Riley, who met his eyes.

"What was it about," asked Draco, who was rubbing his eyes. This made Hermione blush even more.

"Well… This is so embarrassing," Hermione, explained, " Well I was married to Ron and we went to Diagon Alley to meet Riley, Draco, Harry, and Lina. We brought all our children with us and then you," she pointed to Ron, " went in to get Bridget's doll, because she left it in there when you went to buy her _Hogwarts A History_, and the store you were in blew up. You were dead at the end." When Hermione had finished, everyone was staring at her. Ron looked the most surprised.

"We were married?" he said, " And we had a kid named Bridget, did we have any boys?" Everyone turned their heads toward him. He noticed this.

"I was just wondering." He said, keeping his eyes on Hermione.

"Yeah, two," Hermione answered smiling. Ginny laughed, and soon everyone was laughing.

"We also had three girls," Hermione said, turning red. Ron frowned at that.

"I don't want that many girls! Girls are so miserable," Ron yelled. Riley, Ginny, and Hermione glared at him.

"Do you think this meant anything?" Hermione asked, glancing at Riley. Riley looked at Harry for a moment, and then turned to Hermione.

"I don't think so," she said, "Maybe you were just imagining getting married to Ron." That comment made Draco snort. Ron smiled and Harry tried to keep a straight face. Ginny walked over to Ron.

"Good luck with that," she said to Hermione, flicking Ron on the nose. He pushed her off his bed. She made a big BANG as she fell. This made everyone alert. Suddenly, a voice spoke from the back of the room.

"Having a midnight stroll girls," Mrs. And Mr. Weasley stood in the doorway. Hermione turned her head slowly.

"What's going on in here?" Mrs. Weasley asked crossing her arms over her chest. Riley looked from Harry to Hermione.

"Well, Mrs. Weasley," Riley started, "Hermione had a dream." Mrs. Weasley's eyebrows furrowed.

"And what was this dream about?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking from Ron to Hermione. Ron gulped.

"Well…" Riley continued, "Hermione said that in her dream she and Ron get married and have five kids." Hermione looked away from Ron's parents, looking scared. To Harry's amazement Mrs. Weasley smiled.

"It would be nice to have Hermione in the family." Hermione's mouth dropped open. Ron's eyes became wide. Draco yawned and fell back down on his bed. Riley smiled at him, and then looked back at the adults.

"Just remember if you have a girl name it Taylor." Mrs. Weasley said, smiling as she walked away from the doorway. Mr. Weasley did thumbs up sign to Ron and walked back down the hall. Nobody spoke for a moment. There was total silence, until Draco let out a snore. That made everyone laugh.

"What just happened?" Hermione asked, obviously totally surprised. Riley shrugged her shoulders.

"My parents just gave you permission to marry Ron," Ginny spoke from the corner of the room. Harry suddenly had a thought.

"None of your kids happened to be named Taylor did they?" Harry asked.

"Actually," Hermione looked at Harry, " the youngest girl _was_ named Taylor." Harry looked totally freaked out.

"Ok that's enough for me, I'm going to bed," Harry said, lying his head back down on his pillow. The rest of them decided to go to bed also. Riley, Hermione and Ginny walked down the hall completely speechless. They slipped into bed, and tried to fall asleep. When Ginny had fallen asleep, Hermione turned to face Riley.

"Whom were you writing to?" she whispered.

"My dad," Riley answered. Hermione knew that she should be happy for Riley, but having Snape be Riley's father was strange. Hermione decided to change the subject.

"You're married to Draco, and you have 5 children." Hermione said smiling.

"Mostly boys I'm guessing."

"Yep, triplets."

"Cool."

"We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow right?" Hermione asked, sounding a little concerned. Riley looked up at the white ceiling.

"Yeah," Riley said, "Are you scared about the dream?" Hermione was silent.

"Yeah, I guess a little," she spoke softly.

"Don't worry about it, I would have foreseen if anything was going to happen."

"Yeah you're right. Good night Riley," Hermione rolled over on her bed. Riley stayed awake. She knew nothing would happen if she didn't foresee anything. The problem was she had. Not what happened in Hermione's dream but something. She saw an old book, a girl, a woman who seemed to be a ghost, and a pair of green eyes staring up at her.


	3. The Dementors

The Weasley's entered Diagon Alley first, followed by Harry, Hermione, Riley, and Draco. It was the perfect day for shopping for the 6th year books. The sun was shining and wild owls flew around the people and stores. Children were running around everywhere, followed by their parents trying to get them to calm down. The first stop was _Randolph's Reads _after Gringott's. Books of all shapes and sizes filled the store. When Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked in a little girl had just opened a book the shape of a fish. She opened it and got squirted in the face. She turned the page and a face full of clear liquid flew at her. The book had soaked her from head to foot, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Cool," the little girl said quietly. She ran over to a small woman, with square glasses. The girl whispered something to the woman.

"Of course you can have that Cassandra," the small woman said, beaming at the little girl. Harry looked at Ron and they both grinned. Hermione suddenly heard a voice.

"That is one spoiled child, but I guess all mothers want what's best for their children" a woman's voice said. Hermione looked at a woman next to her. She was shaking her head. Hermione figured that she was right. Riley and Draco soon came in accompanied with two more girls.

"Lina, Kylie! How are you," Hermione asked, running up to the girls.

"Great! Harry I've been meaning to write…" Lina started, but stopped.

"That's ok Lina. I know what you did for Riley and I wanted to say thanks," Harry said, smiling. They both started to talk, while looking through the bookshelves.

"Ok, here is _Superstitions of the World_, and _The Key to Centaurs_," Harry said taking two books off the shelf. Lina took another one and they walked over to Ron and Hermione.

"I've found _The Mystery of History_, _What is the real story behind turning a pin into a cushion_, and _The Standard Book of Spells Volume six_," Hermione spoke cheerfully. Riley sighed and pulled out a copy of _The Mystery of History_. She was still thinking about the dream she had. The girl she had seen looked familiar. The woman was familiar too. She was transparent, so that meant she had to be a ghost. It was hard to see her. They all walked out of that store and made their way to the pet store. Riley, Hermione, Harry, and Ron had decided to get some food for their pets. Draco didn't have an owl or a cat.

"Here you go," Riley said plopping a cage next to Draco. He was sitting on a bench outside the store. Draco stared at the cage, where a big white owl stood. It stared right back at Draco, with wide black eyes. The owl started to chirp loudly. Smiling, Draco opened the cage. The owl flew out and perched itself on Draco's outstretched arm.

"Thanks!" Draco said, happily, to Riley. They hugged and stood up to join the others. Naming the owl was hard, because Draco was picky. Everyone finally decided on the name, Quidditch. Draco thought it reflected his personality and what he liked to do. As the boys started drooling over the new limited edition Quidditch book signed by all the Chudly Cannon players, the girls were talking about the sixth year.

Harry walked into a store filled with toys and candy. Kids of all ages were playing and eating. Harry looked around and decided to buy some Candy creatures. This kind of candy was almost alive. If you said a spell over them they would start fighting each other until you ate them. He walked up to the clerk and bought the candy. The clerk looked at him uneasily.

"James?" Harry turned around slowly. Didn't this guy know James Potter was dead?

"No I'm Harry Potter," Harry said staring at the strange man.

"Oh yes his son." The clerk said, putting away sickles into the register, "It seems like only yesterday James and Lily were walking in here and buying stuff. In fact… I think it was yesterday." He sounded sarcastic at the end. He laughed loudly as Harry walked out of the store.

The air suddenly got cold, and the usually noisy street went quiet. The boys and girls looked up to see three dementors walking down the street. Harry groaned in pain. He whipped out his wand and sent a patronous toward them. Nothing happened. Except for the pain in his head disappeared. Harry looked at the dementors through squinted eyes. _What were they doing here?_ He heard them speak. They were talking to a man outside of a store. There was no way Harry could hear it, they were on the other side of the road. They were talking quickly, as if they had somewhere they need to be.

We are looking for Sirius Black 

_Have you seen him? No, well we will be searching around this town. We are ready to perform the kiss. The dementors kiss._

Harry's eyes opened wide. How did they know Sirius was around here? They couldn't possibly know. Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Riley ran over to Harry looking concerned.

"What are they here for?" Riley asked, looking darkly at the robed beasts. Hermione and Ron looked down at Harry who was on the ground. He nodded. They understood. People in the street started to walk into the stores, staring at the dementors. Nobody wanted to breathe the air, they breathed. Including Harry who was now backing into the trees behind him.

He felt something rub his leg, and looked down. There sat a black dog. Ron looked over and saw the dog. He tapped Hermione on the shoulder, and she saw him as well.

"Sirius, what are you doing here?" Harry whispered, not looking at him. The dog didn't answer, instead it handed Harry a piece of paper. He read it quickly and gave it to Ron.

"He wants us to meet him on the train to Hogwarts, he will disguise himself." Harry told them. Riley was looking at the dog. She waved to it and stepped next to Harry.

"What's he doing here?" Riley asked. At first Harry was surprised, then he remembered that Riley knew Sirius. Harry snatched the letter from Hermione, who had just finished reading it, and threw it at Riley. She nodded her head, as if she agreed. All of them hurried to Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, who were telling all of them to come back. They all ran to her, without any question. They were anxious, and Harry, including everyone else, wanted to get away as quickly as possible. Their books made a swooshing sound in the bags, as they walked towards the entrance of Diagon Alley.


	4. Confession

"Where is he?" Harry said under his breath. They were all sitting in the most deserted part of the Hogwarts Express. Everyone was restless. None of them had seen Sirius in person for a while. The train hit a bump and Ron accidentally hit Hermione. She shot him a look, and once again stared at the still door. A tap at the window grabbed Harry's attention. Riley's owl Mittens was flying next to the window, holding a package and letter. Riley slid the window open and Mittens swooped in, and settled on Harry's shoulder. Harry took the envelope and box from the owls claws and handed them to Riley. Riley's eyebrows furrowed as she read the letter. Then she screamed.

" My friends Molly and Tricia disappeared from the mall yesterday!" Riley yelled, ripping the box open. The contents of the box were a small book and a violet shirt.

"These were my friend's stuff," Riley spoke slowly, holding back tears. Her eyes stung as she threw the shirt and book down to the ground. Hermione picked them up and put them back at the box. No one spoke, or even moved. The tension in the room grew to its highest point. Silence fell over them until Draco came running in. He was holding a puppy in his hand. The dog started to move out of Draco's hand, squealing. He didn't seem to notice.

"Look what I found," Draco said, smiling down at the baby dog. He seemed to have felt the tension between everyone and looking up. The frowning faces of his friends told him that something was wrong. Nobody felt like telling him the story, nobody felt like doing anything.

"Oh come on tell me what's up?" Draco asked.

"Malfoy sit down!" Hermione said, impatiently. He did as he was told. As the minutes went by Malfoy fell asleep. He started talking in his sleep.

"Please mummy, give me some Ice cream, I want some ice cream," Draco was saying dreamily. They all looked at him.

Malfoy continued, "Chocolate please, yes I need some for She-Ella too. Yes, she's my sister." Ron snorted but Hermione gave him a warning look. Draco stopped for a while then suddenly screamed out.

"NO I DON'T WANT LEMON! I WANT A CHERRY ON TOP!" This made everyone jump, including the puppy that was sitting on Harry's lap. Ron and Harry couldn't resist laughing at this. Riley just sat. She looked like a statue. Not even Malfoy's pathetic words made her smile.

"STOP! DON'T HURT ME! DON'T TURN ME INTO A RAT, I PROMISE I WON'T EVER EAT CHEESE AGAIN! WHAT? WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS RILEY? SHE'S EATING CHEESE! NO RILEY, CHEDDAR IS BAD FOR YOU!" Malfoy screamed, kicking his legs wildly. Riley turned and slapped him in the head. He woke up. Within five minutes he fell asleep again. This time he didn't start talking. The dog barked and jumped off Harry's lap. It sat on the floor and closed its eyes. Hermione looked at it oddly, and then gasped when it transformed.

Sirius Black appeared, and the dog was gone. Harry rubbed his eyes and then rubbed them again. Sirius brushed off his beat up coat as he sat down next to Riley. Riley glanced at him, and then looked at Draco, who was still fast asleep. Ron sat up straight and stared at Sirius. Black broke the silence.

"So what's up with you lot?" he asked, looking at each and every one of them. Hermione blushed slightly. Sirius noticed this.

"Hermione, is something wrong?" she didn't answer. She kept looking at Ron out of the corner of her eye, and Sirius with the other. Harry thought this was ridiculous, so did Riley.

"Oh, stop being so darn annoying," Riley suddenly screamed, "Hermione had a dream that her and Ron were married and Ron got blown up in Diagon Alley." She turned and put her face in her hands. Hermione and Ron were now looking opposite ways, and Harry was looking at Draco, who had started mumbling something. Nobody else seemed to notice him talking to himself. Harry moved over to Draco and put his ear up close. Nobody seemed to notice Harry either. Malfoy was saying something about a forgotten curse. Then he started whispering, _He's coming he's coming_. He moved back and stumbled on his bag. Still watching Draco carefully, Harry edged back to his seat. The land outside the window zoomed by, and the silence made Harry uneasy.

"I'm going to go put on my robes," Riley said coolly, as she made her way towards the door. She walked out into the dark hallway.

"Well Hermione, you're not a fortune-teller right?" Sirius asked.

"No, but Riley is," Hermione replied shyly. Harry was starting to wonder if Malfoy was also a fortune-teller. The words Draco had spoken were still getting to him. _Maybe he was just dreaming_, Harry thought, pushing his fears back. He secretly knew that that wasn't it. Riley returned wearing her Hogwarts robes, still frowning. Ron hadn't said anything yet. Nobody expected him too.

"Well then did you foresee anything Riley?" Sirius looked at Riley. She shook her head. Sirius turned back to Hermione and scratched his unshaven chin.

"It's probably nothing Hermione," Ron exclaimed, finally getting pulled into the conversation. To be honest Ron was a little freaked out about Hermione's dream. What if she was seeing the future? Ron didn't want to make things worse though. Hermione nodded, seeming like she understood. Harry didn't think she believed it.

"Ron is right."

"But it seemed so real." Hermione pushed her bushy brown hair back, and looked down. Her hands were pushing into the seat next to her. Harry thought he saw her shiver, but then realized that the train had hit a bump.

"DON'T DO THIS TO RILEY! YOU'RE NOT NICE! WAIT… YOU 'RE GOING TO KILL HER JUST BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T EAT MOZZERELLA! HOW DARE YOU! DON'T YOU TOUCH MY GIRLFRIEND!" Draco grabbed Riley's arm, and started yanking it toward him. Riley tried to get free, but Draco wouldn't let go. Finally he let go. She shook her hand.

"Is he alright?" Sirius asked, observing Malfoy carefully. Everyone except Riley smiled.

"I don't think he likes cheese." Ron looked straight at Malfoy, who was now opening and closing his mouth. Ron and Harry both burst out laughing. Sirius smiled, Hermione tried not to laugh, but it was obvious she wanted too, and Riley was pouting. Hermione announced to everyone that she was going to get her robes on. Harry and Ron walked out also carrying bags filled of clothes. Riley sat, looking out the window. Sirius peeked past her at Malfoy, who was now lying with his mouth wide open. He laughed silently and looked at Riley.

"Bad day?" Sirius asked. Riley looked up at him, her eyes red from crying.

"Yeah," Riley said, whipping her eyes.

"Well…" Sirius got cut off.

"Tricia and Molly disappeared, and I hope they're okay." Riley looked back out the window.

"That isn't the only thing troubling you is it?" Sirius asked. This question took Riley by surprise. She nodded her head, to tell him he was right.

"I-I had a premonition. I saw a ghost, a girl whose head was hidden, an old beat up book, and a pair of evil green eyes." Riley gulped. Seeing the future had never really been a problem. It saved her life in one case, last year when Voldemort had been trying to kill her. In fact she liked being able to prepare for things before they happen. The gift was wonderful, but this scared her. Nobody would understand how scary that dream had been. Also, Riley was starting to wonder if Hermione could pick things out of the future. She knew she was probably wrong, but Hermione seemed to show signs of the ability. The worst part was the eyes, and the book. Both looked familiar, like she had seen them before. Riley knew she had seen them both before. Especially the book. It was a perfect picture in her mind. Old, with leather binding. White pages that were turning a tint of yellow from rust. Words were on the cover, but she couldn't remember what they said.

"You are really worried about this aren't you?" Sirius broke the silence. Riley felt something moving next to her. She looked down to see Draco's eyes spring open. He started pointing and looked as if he couldn't speak.

"Siri-Sirius Black!" Malfoy shouted back into the wall. Both Sirius and Riley told him to be quiet.

"You know him," Malfoy looked at her in amazement. She nodded. At that moment Ron walked in, fully dressed in his robes.

"Do you know him to?" Malfoy looked completely confused.

"Who? Sirius, yeah I've known him since third," Ron said stuffing his old clothes in his bag.

"THIRD YEAR!" Malfoy shouted walking back and fourth. Then he suddenly stopped. He looked around.

"Where's the dog?" Ron and Riley pointed at Sirius. Malfoy sat down next to Riley looking like he was in a daze. He rubbed his eyes, and scratched his pale blond head. At that moment Hermione walked in. Harry followed five minutes later. They also, were dressed in their robes. Draco didn't waste any time.

"How do you guys know him." Malfoy said, raising his eyebrows at Sirius. Sirius raised his eyebrows right back.

"Black is Harry's godfather," Hermione spoke up. Malfoy just shook his head. After a couple more questions Sirius told them he had to go. He turned into an owl and flew out the window. A piece of paper suddenly flew into Ron's lap.

_Ron- some things will happen to you this year. Many things, but don't give up on what you have. Remember some people don't mean what they say. Some people aren't who you may think they are. Just remember that, and you will be fine._

Sirius

Ron placed the letter in his pocket. Hermione also found a letter.

_Hermione- Use your head. The most powerful people use their emotions to guide them. Remember the key is teamwork. You, Hermione, are also a fortune-teller._

_-Sirius_

Riley was the last to find a note.

_Riley- even the smallest things can help you solve the biggest problems. _

_Sirius_

This confused all of them. Harry didn't seem to get one. Why Sirius talking to them?


	5. Visit

"Lonnie Melbourne" Professor McGonagall called to the first years. A short little witch approached the stool when the professor had called her name. The girl looked terrified. The sorting ceremony had begun and Harry was actually present.

"SLYTHERIN" the old hat boomed. Lonnie jumped off the stool and ran over to the screaming Slytherin table. Another name was called.

"Kayla Lenora."

"Gryffindor" the hat screamed.

"Ben Withrale." Professor McGonagall looked through the crowd of new students. Ben got sorted into Gryffindor and the table went wild. Next were Latoya Anderson who got sorted into Ravenclaw, and then Mike Matthews who got sorted into Slytherin.

"Nathan Mililani." The Hufflepuff table applauded as Nathan ran over. After everyone was sorted the feast began. Ron began to shovel food onto his plate. Hermione took the spoon and plopped two handfuls of Mashed potatoes on her empty plate. Riley was over visiting the Slytherin table. Harry took his share and sat up straight.

Once everyone had finished their dinner the deserts appeared on the table. Crème pies, puddings, cakes, cookies, and candy were placed, pushed, and piled onto people's plates. Lina came over to Harry.

"Um… Harry are we still going out?" Lina asked, crossing her fingers behind her back. Harry squinted his eyes.

"Yes, what you did for Riley was so brave," Harry answered, standing up. She smiled.

"Well Riley had reassured me that I wouldn't die so it really wasn't," Lina looked down to the floor. Harry remained smiling.

"I still like you Lina" She flew her arms around him.

"Thank you!" she cried, "I'll see you later alright?" Harry nodded. Lina ran back over to her seat, where Zelda Corcoran and Ash Corolla were giggling. Zelda had the same hair color as Riley, light brown hair with blond highlights that fell past her shoulders. Ash was Zelda's best friend, she had light blond hair that reached all the way to her lower back. Both of them were prissy. They almost always got what they wanted. Suddenly, Zelda gasped.

"There is no more vanilla pudding." She wailed. Ron looked down at his plate and saw that he still hadn't touched his. He looked from his pudding to Zelda and took off the cup. He reached his hand out.

"Here you can have mine, I don't need it," Ron said. Zelda looked up at him and smiled.

"Really?" she asked. Ron nodded, and she snatched it out of his hand.

"Thanks, your name is?" Zelda looked at him curiously.

"Ron Weasley."

"I'm Zelda Corcoran."

"Cool, hope you enjoy the pudding."

"Wait, you're in my transfiguration class, aren't you Ron?"

"Yeah, and I think charms." They started talking.

"Well it's time to go, see you later," Ron said getting out of his seat, as Gryffindor was dismissed. Riley ran over and joined them.

"Hey what's been going on?" she asked, still looking a little gloomy. They told her everything they had been talking about.

"Cool." She answered. Suddenly, Dumbledore screamed.

"Wait one more thing students. I would like everyone who was involved in what happened last June to come up here." Dumbledore looked down on them with his friendly, bright blue eyes. Ron, Hermione, Riley, Harry, and Malfoy walked up and sat down. They waited for everyone else to leave the room. Dumbledore and the teachers told them to stay put and that they would be with them shortly. All the teachers evacuated the room. Everyone sat still looking at each other.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Harry, and Riley suddenly screamed and fell to the ground. The world became a blur of colors. They were falling. They hit the ground and snapped their eyes open. It was a dark room, very cold. A mist seemed to circle around the room, and water seemed to wade around the floor. A man stepped out of the shadows. Riley suddenly fell asleep, lying in a heap on the ground.

"Voldemort!" Harry yelled, trying to push himself away.

"Yes, Harry."

"Why did you bring Riley here, you want me don't you?" Harry screamed, anger flowing through him. Voldemort shook his head.

"Why do all famous people think everything is always about them?" Voldemort laughed as he said this. Harry didn't understand.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I want Riley, and her little mud blood friend," Voldemort replied, taking a long step toward Harry.

"Hermione?" Harry was startled, "What do you want with Hermione?"

"She is a fortune-teller, just like Miss Evans."

"So you're just going after all my friends?" Harry asked.

"No I don't need Draco or your little red-head friend. They are absolutely useless." Voldemort answered, sounding very complacent.

"Well you can't have Riley or Hermione!" Harry pushed toward Riley with all his might.

"Oh and who's going to stop me?" Voldemort laughed his horrible laugh. Harry pulled out his wand and yelled.

"_Dorania_" His head slammed to the ground. Harry rubbed his head and looked up. Riley also did. All his friend's mouths were wide open. None of them had heard or seen what he had. Riley got up followed by Harry, both were dizzy. Draco ran over to Riley.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking concerned. She shook her head.

"I don't know what happened. There were so many colors and then I fell asleep." She said, sitting back down on her chair. Everyone was now looking at Harry.

"I…I don't know what happened either." He lied. Everybody looked doubtful, but sat up straight as Dumbledore, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, and Snape entered the room. The teachers told them that they would have extra precaution, and that they would have teachers and guards following them. After that talk they all went up to the Common room, where everyone was gathered. Harry and the rest decided just to go to bed and talk in the morning.


	6. Quidditch Tryouts

The next morning came as a shock to everyone. This was the first year Ron was the oldest Weasley in the school, and he loved it. Hermione became a prefect and to everyone's surprise so did Neville Longbottom. Neville was the last person _anyone_ would expect to be a prefect. This year the Quidditch team had to pick new players. Tryouts were going to take place in a week. This also made Ron happy.

"I've got to make the team!" Ron kept saying. Harry thought that he did have a good chance. Harry and Casey Prewar were the only two Quidditch players left. Casey had joined the team in the fifth year. Five more players were needed. Two beaters, and three beaters. Harry thought Ron would be a good beater, after all it was in his family. Anyone who was a second year or older could sign to tryout. Ron's name was the first on the list.

The day of the tryouts had arrived and Ron was prepping up. At breakfast he was anxious and as usual piling food in his mouth. Hermione kept reassuring him that he would make it, but he did it anyway. There were about a hundred names on the list for tryouts. Harry and Casey both knew they had a lot of work to do. Harry walked outside into the crowd of Gryffindors waiting to try out their flying. Ron was the first in line.

"Alright everyone when we call your names you will come into the field and get on a broom. We will call three names at a time. The first three are Jeremy Holmes, Kylie Carragan, and Roxanne Miller. The three students walked through the doors. Nobody could watch them. Harry started to talk again.

"As you all know the tryouts will be judged by me Harry Potter and Casey Prewar. These three people get ready to go up next Riley Evans, Rachel Von Derek, and Cara Becking." After fifteen minutes Jeremy, Kylie, and Roxanne came back out, their faces looking flushed. Next Riley, Rachel, and Cara entered the field. After another fifteen minutes, they too exited through the doors. Casey walked out after them holding a piece of parchment.

"Next will be Emma Grint, Rupert Radcliffe, and Daniel Watson. Then will be Zelda Corcoran, Ron Weasley, and Justin Symington." Ron tensed up.

When it was time for Ron, Zelda, and Justin to tryout, they walked into the emerald green field. Harry and Casey sat at a table, papers surrounding them. Harry winked at Ron. Ron gulped. Zelda went first. She was very fast and good. She swooped through the air, looking like a blur. Justin went next, he was also very good. Then it was Ron's turn. He propped his broom and jumped on. The wind whipped his red hair back. He felt free and happy. Ron was bolting through the air. Harry came to the middle of the field, carrying a brown ball. He let go of it and it came towards Ron. The ball was a bludger and Ron whacked it as hard as he could toward a graphic under him. It hit the graphic person straight on and Ron flew to the ground. Harry and Casey were both clapping and smiling.

"Very good job, all of you," Harry said, looking at them. All of them followed Harry and Casey out the doors. Everyone went quiet as they left the field and came into the crowd.

"Next will be Laura Wilmington, Pat Airst, and Marigold Lennon," Harry said. The rest of the words were not heard by Ron, because he walked into the room where they were all going to be given instructions. Hermione was sitting next to Kylie and Riley, who were laughing. When Ron came near, Hermione stood up and hugged him. She was smiling.

"How did you do?" she asked, patting Ron on the back. Ron shrugged and sat down to join in their conversation. About an hour later Harry and Casey walked in followed by the last three students to tryout. The students sat down, as Casey started to talk.

"You were all very good. I wish all of you could be on the team…" Casey spoke softly.

"But as you all know we can only choose five more teammates. The possible places you could be put in are as one of the two beaters, or one of the three chasers. I am a seeker and Casey is the keeper. Please do not be too upset if you don't make it, because as we told you before, you were all great. You will all go do whatever you want to until dinner, which is in three hours. We will announce who has made it after dinner in the common room." Harry finished.

All the students shuffled out of the crowded room. Hermione made her way to the library to meet all the other prefects for a meeting. Ron walked to Hagrid's place. He heard something in the bushes as he walked toward Hagrid's house. When Ron turned around he saw a short little man sitting down with a camera in his hand. The guy took a picture of Ron and ran off. The man dropped his camera and picked it up again. His bony fingers seemed to have a hard time holding the huge camera. Ron laughed and knocked on the door of Hagrid's place. He heard heavy footsteps inside, then the door flew open, just missing Ron's nose.

"Ron, my boy! What are you doing here?" Hagrid asked, grabbing Ron and wrapping him in a big hug. When Hagrid pulled away Ron walked in.

"I just wanted to talk about… things," Ron tried to explain. Hagrid nodded his head, trying to understand.

"There was this weird little man out there in the bushes. He took a picture of me, then ran off," Ron was saying to Hagrid.

"Oh him. That's Colin and Dennis Creevey's father. He's getting some pictures for the Daily Prophet." Hagrid was putting water in a kettle for tea. Ron smiled to himself. Colin and Dennis Creevey were two of the nosiest kids Ron had ever met. They were both obsessed with Harry. Now there was another Creevey in the school. Benny Creevey, who had just gotten sorted into Gryffindor this year. More then one of them was enough to drive you mad.

"Why was he taking a picture of me?" Ron asked Hagrid, who was yelping because he had just burnt his finger. Hagrid ran over to his sink and poured cold water over his red finger. Ron got up and asked if he needed any help. Hagrid shook his head, sending bits of grass flying everywhere.

"No, and to answer your question I don't know. The only explanation I can come up with is about what happened in June or maybe just because you are like Harry's brother." Hagrid said, going back over to his chair and sitting down. In June Ron had helped save all of them from dieing, but everyone else had helped as well. Ron had disappeared for two months before that, and had been taken to Voldemort's own little Pettroliama Cage.

"Maybe." Ron looked around the cabin-like house. It looked like Hagrid hadn't cleaned in years. Hagrids voice broke his daydreaming.

"So, how's it going with Hermione?"

"Great, except…" Ron thought about whether he should tell Hagrid about Hermione's dream, and the note he had received.

"What?" Hagrid asked, looking concerned.

"Hermione had a dream, that I was dead…" Ron suddenly realized how long he had been there.

"What time is it?" Ron asked. Hagrid's eyes opened wide.

"I don't know, but we better get up to the school, or we might miss dinner."

They both ran up the hill to the double doors. The Great Hall was already filling up when they reached it. Ron found a seat next to Hermione and Riley, who had joined them. Dinner went very slow for Ron, since the Quidditch team was going to be established that night. Harry and Casey were both not present at dinner, which probably meant they were figuring out who was going to make it. Dinner was finally over and Ron hurried up to the Common Room where Harry and Casey were talking. Everyone who had tried out gathered around on the couches and chair, waiting patiently to see who got picked. Harry stood up.

"First we both want to congratulate you for getting picked or for not getting picked. It takes a lot of guts to tryout for something, and it takes more not to make it. First I will announce the two beaters. They are Zelda Corcoran and Ken Hornet." Everyone clapped. Hermione leaned over to him and told him that he could still make a chaser. Zelda and Ken walked up and stood next to Harry and Casey. They both were given their tools. The crowd went quiet when Harry raised his hand.

"Our three chasers are Riley Evans," Riley walked up, "Emma Grint, and Daniel Watson." Ron's heart sunk.

Harry looked over at Ron, who was sitting very still. Hermione was looking down at the ground. Not choosing Ron made him upset, especially since he knew Ron wasn't going to take it well. Emma and Daniel walked up next to Riley. She was also staring at Ron.

"The-the first practice will take place tomorrow after dinner. Be ready to work out, and bring all your equipment," Harry stuttered to the Quidditch players. Everyone exited the room, except Harry, Hermione, Riley, and Ron.

"I'm really sorry Ron, I tried to get Casey to agree…" Harry explained. Ron raised his hand.

"It's ok Harry. At least I have done one thing that none of my brothers have," Ron said, looking Harry in the eye. Harry knew what was coming.

"I got rejected from the Quidditch team," Ron gave a light smile and turned on his heel. Riley put her hand on Harry's shoulder then walked out. Hermione looked up at him.

"I know you meant no harm," Hermione said, "But it was up to you who got picked. That made him really excited, that he might have a slight chance." Hermione gulped, Harry's eyes began to water.

"You and I both know that you tried to get him on the team, and I thank you for that. If he wasn't good enough then…" Hermione didn't finish. In stead she walked toward the door. Before she left she spoke three words.

"Good night Harry."


	7. Defense Against the Dark Arts

"That's great Dad!" Riley cried, hugging her father, Severus Snape. She had just been informed that Snape was going to be the new Defense Against the Arts teacher this year. Riley and her father had spent a month together over the summer, and had learned a lot about each other. Riley was still keeping her name. Riley Evans. Snape agreed to it.

"Yes, I am! I have wanted this job for years! Now old Dumbledore has finally given in! I am having a celebration dinner with just you and some other students and people! I have to go to my first class in two hours, after lunch." Snape ran off down the hall. Riley smiled and looked down at her schedule once again. I have his class after lunch, Riley thought happily. She turned around and made her way toward Hagrid's place, she had his class.

Hermione and Ron were already there.

"Hey guys," Riley said, as she sat down next to Hermione. Hemione smiled weakly, and Ron grunted. Harry walked in and set his books next to Ron.

"Can I sit here?" Harry asked, looking scared of what Ron might say.

"Yeah, I don't blame you entirely for what happened. I want what is best for Gryffindor and I obviously wasn't. So our team has to win this year, or I'm going to pound you!" Ron smiled, and moved his books aside. They were all relieved at how well Ron was taking it. Riley decided to tell them all about her father's new job.

"Guess what?" Riley said, as they started cutting acorns for the creatures. They all looked at her. Lina walked over and sat next to Harry.

"Dad is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Ron and Harry gasped, and Hermione started chopping the acorns faster. Lina turned in her chair.

"What's wrong?" Riley asked looking at them sadly.

"Well no offense, but Snape isn't really my favorite teacher." Harry said.

"He's your uncle!" Riley yelled, stomping her foot. Ron cringed. Hermione kicked him under the table. Riley starred daggers at Harry.

"Well, yeah but…" Harry went on. Riley waited. When Harry didn't finish she stomped up to Hagrid.

"Can you knock some sense into Harry's little pee brain!" this seemed to come as a surprise to Hagrid, " tell him that Snape is his uncle and my father!" Hagrid, along with most of the other students did not know this. His mouth dropped.

"Severus is your father," Hagrid asked. Riley's eyes opened wide and she sighed.

"You are no help!" Riley screamed, and ran away from the class. Draco Malfoy was the only other student, besides Hermione, Ron, and Harry who knew that Snape was Riley's father. He was sitting in the back next to Crabbe and Goyle.

"Malfoy!" Hagrid yelled across the field.

"What?" Draco yelled back.

"Go talk to your girlfriend, PLEASE!" Hagrid screamed. Malfoy got up.

"Take your books and don't come back," Hagrid added, waving him away.

"Ok then!" Malfoy ran after Riley. Minerva McGonagall was walking down the field, and stopped Malfoy. Everyone could see him explaining, and he started running again. The professor shook her head and walked up to Hagrid. She whispered in his ear and he nodded.

"Harry," Hagrid said. Harry jumped and came into focus. The whole class was staring at him. He stood up and walked over to McGonagall, slightly shaking. When she told him the reason, he settled down. His hands went still, and his toes were not numb. This was good news for more then just him. Harry followed Professor McGonagall back up to the school. Ron, Hermione, and Lina watched as Harry disappeared through the doors. Hermione seemed to be studying Hagrid's face for any idea of what was going on, and Ron just shrugged his shoulders.

"Lina, I didn't notice you were here," Hermione suddenly said. Lina looked up.

"Yep, well I just got here," Lina exclaimed. Hermione nodded her head.

"Where were you?"

"I had to stay after in McGonagall's class," Lina answered, turning her head to the school, "I thought she was coming down to tell me something else." She now looked concerned.

"I wonder what she wanted with Harry?" Hermione and Lina exchanged glances and looked at Ron. He looked at both of them and understood. Sighing, he got up and walked to Hagrid who was helping Lavender feed her Jumpy Owl, which is a silver bird. It isn't really and owl, but the experts call it an owl. The small bird could jump up to eleven feet. It had jumped up onto Hagrid's head and was pulling on his bushy hair. The bird finally gave up and jumped to the food laid out on the table. Lavender smiled.

"Thanks Hagrid," she said ruffling the bird feathers. Hagrid paid no attention to Ron, until he tapped him on the shoulder. Hagrid's head whipped around and almost whacked Ron in the face. Ron could hear Hermione and Lina laughing.

"Hello Ron," Hagrid said, cheerfully.

"Hey Hagrid. Um… what is Harry doing? Is he in trouble?" Hagrid shook his head.

"No, but I can't tell you why he's up there, because I honestly don't know," Hagrid kept looking up at the school.

"Then how do you know he's not in trouble?" Ron asked.

"Minerva told me," Hagrid answered.

"Ok, thanks Hagrid," Ron glared at Hermione and Lina. He sat down and started to feed his bird. The silver gray feathers had an outline of gold that sparkled in the sunlight. About a quarter of an hour later the class was dismissed for lunch. Harry still hadn't come back. He didn't even show up for lunch. Riley was there and was sitting at the Slytherin table. None of the teachers ever noticed her, so she never got in trouble for it. Plus Snape was the head of Slytherin and Riley was his daughter.

After lunch Ron, Riley, and Hermione made their way toward Snape's classroom. Lina had Herbology next. The Slytherins were already seated, so was Harry. Ron ran over to him and snatched the seat next to him. Hermione sat next to Ron, and Riley sat next to Hermione. Snape was standing next to his desk, where a cage was covered with a sheet. Something was moving inside it because the cage was rattling. Everyone was trying to get a closer look. Once everyone was present Snape started to pace around the room.

"Now everyone, this class won't be easy," Snape warned them, wearing a crooked smile on his face. He lifted the sheet and everyone gasped. It was nothing but a piece of clay.

"Surprised are we?" Snape said, "Well this is not a piece of clay, it is an old ancient animal called a Verba. Some still live today." Everyone came up to the animal.

"This animal is like a boggart only… it does worse." Snape continued, "You all will have a chance to do it. Sometimes it won't do anything more than a boggart will, but in some case it will talk act and do what you are afraid of. Now it will choose which one of you it would like to do first." The animal suddenly had eyes and took the form of a frog then it hopped over to Ron's desk. A huge spider appeared, but nothing else happened. Ron let out a breath and slouched in his chair, relieved it didn't do anything else. It then moved over to Riley. At first it didn't take any form, but then it started to turn into the body of a man. Sirius Black appeared. Everyone gasped, including Snape. Sirius started to talk.

"Save Harry and Riley! Lily go! Where's James. Where are they? All the children are gone. Riley, Harry, Draco, Ron, and Hermione are gone! NO!!!!!!" Riley moved her chair back, as a light beam suddenly shot from nowhere and hit Sirius in the chest. He screamed and fell backward. Then the Verba moved to Harry and there was Lily Potter holding a baby, dressed in blue pajamas.

"Don't kill Harry! Kill me instead!" the image of Lily Potter yelled, hiding her baby from a figure that was inching toward her. Lily screamed and fell to the ground and the baby sat there. The figure pointed his wand at the baby, getting ready to strike. The man turned toward Harry who was sitting in his seat, looking absolutely terrified. A face appeared, a familiar face. It's smile made you sick and his eyes sent an icy chill through you. The face belonged to someone he had just come in contact with a couple days ago. Silence had taken over the room. The man raised his wand and yelled a curse toward Harry. Harry flew off his chair and landed on the cold ground. Then the man turned to Riley. He started to walk toward her. She backed up as far as she could, and drew out her wand. Voldemort struck and Riley's wand took in the energy of the curse. Riley was fine, and she shot the same curse back at him. Then Riley did a flip in the air and hit him straight in the head. At the same time he shot another curse, this time it hi her. She flipped back and landed next to Harry When Harry looked up again Snape had put a sheet back over the animal and was running over to Harry. The whole class was gathered around him. Hermione, Ron, and Riley were leaning over him, looking deeply concerned. Harry shrieked in pain, his scar was burning. Draco Malfoy ran over, and his mouth dropped open.

"His scar is glowing!" Draco yelled. Snape was beginning to panic.

"I told that horrid creature not to go to Harry or Riley! Ash and Zelda go up to the nurse and get Madam. Pomfrey! Now!" Hermione and Ron couldn't believe what they just saw.

"Was that…" Hermione asked, stopping so she didn't say his name.

"Yes, that was Voldie," Harry answered, holding his head. The class had heard what he just said, and went wild. Harry's scar was glowing bright red, when Madam Pomfrey ran in. Snape was assisting her and they got Harry on a stretcher.

"Can I go now?" Harry asked an hour later. Madam Pomfrey had already made him eat two whole bars of chocolate. She shook her head.

"Let him go Poppy," Dumbledore said walking into the room. She sighed.

"But headmaster…"

"Let him go," Dumbledore urged.

"Fine, but I don't agree with this." Madam Pomfrey walked out of the room. Ron, Hermione, and Riley came in. Harry smiled.

"Hey Harry," Ron said sitting down on a chair.

"Does your scar still hurt?" Hermione asked. Harry shook his head. Riley looked down at the ground.

"You saw Sirius…dieing." Harry spoke quietly. Riley looked at him.

"Yeah," Riley answered.

"Why was he mentioning us?" Ron asked, blowing a strand of hair out of his face.

"I don't know!" Riley yelled. She turned around and shrieked. None of them had noticed that Dumbledore was sitting in the corner. He smiled.

"Well, I guess that is a pretty horrible creature," Dumbledore stood, chuckling.

"Those are your worst fears," Dumbledore continued, "Conjured up by your imaginations." There was one thing Harry didn't understand.

"Why did I see the past?" Harry asked, rubbing his scar.

"You hoped you wouldn't have to see that or go through it again," Dumbledore answered. He looked out the window and turned to face Harry.

"I am sorry you had to witness that, again. I'm sorry you all had to witness that." They all stared at Dumbldore.

"The problem is that now everyone in that classroom knows you both have something to do with Sirius Black," Dumbledore pointed to Harry and Riley." Harry hadn't realized that until now. Harry didn't want anything to happen to Sirius. He had to calm things down. Or else Sirius won't be a secret for long.


	8. Time to Fight

"Everyone come here! Come on!" Harry yelled, waving his hands around. All the Gryffindors were gathering in the Common Room. Zelda looked troubled.

"We need to get down to Quidditch practice!" she yelled. Casey nodded her head.

"We have a rather important announcement." Zelda marched over to an open chair and crossed her arms unhappily. Ron hoped it wasn't anything serious about Harry, but he knew it had to be about Quidditch since Casey was with Harry. Hermione was thinking the same thing.

"You don't think they cancelled it this year, do you?" she whispered in Ron's ear. He shook his head. He desperately hoped that wasn't what the announcement was.

"You're not canceling Quidditch are you?" Ron called out, wanting to know the answer. Harry gave him the answer he wanted to hear.

"No, nobody's canceling Quidditch." Hermione let out a breath she had been holding in. That question seemed to be on many people's minds, because the whole room filled with relieved sighs. Casey glanced at Harry and he nodded his head.

"Would you people calm down? Nobody's gonna die!" Casey yelled. Many people looked at Riley. She tried to hide behind a chair.

"Now Professor McGonagall has informed us today that Ken will not be able to play Quidditch this year," Casey giggled, "His mother said it was too dangerous." Many of the girls giggled and the guys laughed. Ken wasn't present in the room, Harry actually felt bad for him. Once everyone had gotten over their laughing fits, they realized what was going to happen. This gave a lot of people hope.

"We will have to replace our beater. Casey and I have talked about it and discussed it before, on the day of the tryouts. If anything like this occurred we would have a person ready. This person was the next best beater that we have seen." Harry said, looking around the room, "And that person should be ready to train in ten minutes. Are you all ready to find out who our new beater is?" Everyone cheered and whistled. Then Harry grabbed some Quidditch robes that were lying on the table next to him. He walked over to Ron and handed them to him. Hermione gasped.

"Ron Weasley, your mother will let you play, won't she?" Harry smiled. Everyone came up to Ron and congratulated him. Once everyone had cleared out of the room, Ron came up to Harry.

"Wow, Thanks!" Ron screamed, dancing around the room. Harry walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked, sounding slightly disappointed. Harry grinned.

"I'm going to practice," Harry said, " Where are you going?" Ron turned and ran out of sight. Five minutes later Ron ran down to the Common room, panting. Zelda was waiting for him. Hermione who was standing next to Ron glared at her.

"What are you doing here Zelda?" Ron asked, glancing at Ash, who was standing beside Zelda smirking at Hermione.

"I'm waiting for you, you are my partner aren't you?" Zelda smiled.

"Well, kind of…" Ron started to answer.

"So we will have to train long hours together," Zelda continued, her eyes flashing. Ron shrugged and kissed Hermione on the cheek. He walked out the door. Zelda sent one more smirk Hermione's way, and then followed him. Ash stood there examining Hermione,

"Zelda so has a better chance then you," Ash slipped out of the room, after saying that. Hermione's mouth dropped open. What did she mean?

"Don't let either of them get to you Hermione," a woman's voice spoke. Hermione turned and looked around the room. Nobody was there. Hermione remembered the voice. She had heard it in Diagon Alley, in the bookstore. This was too much for her. She grabbed her coat and ran to the Quidditch field.

* * *

The air was unusually chilly for September. The Quidditch players were zooming around on their brooms, when Hermione reached the field. No one noticed her at first, then Zelda looked over. When she saw Hermione she smiled. The smile wasn't friendly. It was cruel. Hermione had a bad feeling. Zelda, flew down to the ground, where Ron and Harry were talking. She walked up behind Ron. Harry then looked over Hermione's way, and saw her. He looked between Zelda and Hermione. Zelda spoke to Ron.

"You look so terribly tired Ron, how about I give you a shoulder massage?" Zelda asked, turning her head to smirk at the now furious Hermione. Harry saw what was happening. He glared at Zelda.

"No, that's ok Zelda," Ron said, pushing her hands off his shoulders. Zelda frowned, and Hermione smiled. She had seen enough. Hermione ran back up to the Common room. She sat here for a while, and then went to bed. Even looking at Zelda made you tired.

"Hello Ron, thanks for letting me sit next to you," Zelda said, batting her eyelashes, at a surprised Ron.

"I didn't let you," he whispered, but Zelda didn't seem to hear.

"Why, I didn't see you there Hermione," Zelda smiled, " I guess you get that a lot." Hermione frowned. Ash laughed and started talking to Lina Black who was sitting next to Harry. Ron was too busy eating to notice the looks that were being passed between Hermione and Zelda. Harry and Riley noticed though, and they both knew that this was going to mean trouble.

"Actually, no, I don't get that a lot. In fact I don't get that at all," Hermione was clenching her jaw.

"Oh, my mistake. Hope you could forgive me," Zelda smiled. Hermione looked away.

"Don't count on it," Hermione whispered, this time Zelda heard. She frowned and went on eating. Riley knew exactly what was going on. Zelda wanted something she couldn't have, unless she fought. That something, someone, was Ron. Obviously realizing this, Zelda was trying to make Hermione look bad, and make Ron turn to her. Riley turned in her seat and looked at Draco Malfoy, all the way across the hall. He was laughing, while he was talking with Crabbe and Goyle. She smiled, and turned to face Harry.

"This is going to get ugly," she said, so that only Harry could hear.

"Yep, and when it does, someone is going to get hurt. I have a feeling that it's going to be Ron." Harry answered, looking down at his now empty plate. Riley nodded.

"Time to go to Transfiguration." Harry said, as everyone got up to go to their first classes of the day. Hermione, Ron, Harry, Riley, and Zelda made their way toward the big classroom, where Professor McGonagall was waiting. Malfoy ran up to them, and joined the group.

"Hey guys," he said. No one answered. Riley gave him a weak smile.

"What's wrong with you?" Draco asked, looking at each of them. He finally gave up after no one answered him on that. All the students gathered into the classroom, and sat in their seats. Professor McGonagall walked up to the front of the classroom, and smiled at the tired sixth years.

"Well today we will be turning a piece of parchment into a moving picture. Now I will put you in groups of four." She looked down at her list of students, "Ron Weasley, Lina Black, and…"

"Please me and Ash with him!" Zelda called out, looking hopefully at McGonagall.

"Well ok then, Ash Corolla and Zelda Corcoran." Ash and Zelda ran over to Ron and Lina. Ron looked back and pouted at Harry, Hermione, and Riley. Zelda turned and stuck her tongue out at Hermione. Riley's mouth dropped open. Harry's eyes opened wide, and Hermione glared at her. Draco had no clue what was going on. He didn't say a word.

"Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Pansy Parkinson, and Erik Cooke." Professor McGonagall continued, not knowing what she had just done, "Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, and Riley Evans." They all sat down at a table and waited until everyone had been put in groups. Then McGonagall passed out parchment to all the students.

"Now, we went over this yesterday so you should all be able to turn it into a picture. Now go!" Wands flicked in the air, and spells were being yelled. Harry went first and turned it into a picture of him. Malfoy turned his into a frog first (by accident), and then turned his into a picture of Riley. Riley turned hers into a picture of Malfoy and her together. Hermione was the last to try. Hers was the most interesting. First she turned it into a picture of Ron and her together. Then she suddenly changed it. The picture was now of Zelda. She lifted the picture in the air. It was floating in the air.

"Hermione what are you doing?" Harry asked. Hermione looked furious.

"Uh oh," Harry heard Riley whisper. Hermione flicked her wand.

"_Fiara_," she yelled. The picture burst into flames. Harry and Malfoy jumped back. Riley started to clean up the ashes that were now lying on the table. Hermione had scorched Zelda's picture. Malfoy looked surprised. Hermione sat still staring at the table. She lifted her wand and another picture formed out of the ashes. Ron stood, smiling. Harry looked over at Zelda. She was smiling and patting Ron on the back. That girl was horrible. She was manipulative. Professor McGonagall came around and looked at everyone's pictures. When she got to Harry's table, she nodded approvingly. Everyone smiled, except Hermione who was still frowning.

"Good job on making the team Zelda, Ron," they heard McGonagall say.

"Oh yes, me and Ron are both beaters, so we help each other out." Zelda replied, in her snotty voice. Harry looked at Hermione, who had closed her eyes. Suddenly a smile spread across her face. Harry didn't like it.

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked. Hermione smile widened.

Hermione got up and walked out the door, since the class had just ended. Riley stood next to Harry.

"What do you think she's gonna do?" Riley whispered.

"I don't know, but…" Harry cut off.

"Let's just hope it's nothing that can't be fixed," Riley continued, as they walked towards divination. Ron met them at the door.

"Don't you think that that room smelled like smoke?" Ron asked them, as they took their seats. Riley and Harry grinned at each other.

"So what do you think will happen to you? My bet is that you will die from food poisoning." Ron said, "Hermione told me that she thinks you will choke to death." Professor Trawleny sat down on her chair and gazed into her crystal ball. She breathed in and out numerous times. Ron was sitting next to Harry ready to burst out laughing. Suddenly she sang out.

"I see a death this year, no two. One is Harry Potter who will die from choking," Trawleny breathed in again," the other person is not clear, a girl." Ron's mouth dropped open.

"Hermione was right!" he whispered, his amazement showing. Riley heard this. She now knew that Hermione must be a fortune-teller. Harry had already told Riley that Hermione quit because Trawleny told her she didn't have an aura. Riley knew that she was wrong, for she was a fortune-teller herself and could tell what was going on.

"We will grieve for you my darling! Everyone in this class will write Harry a goodbye note, so he knows you all loved him, during these short sixteen years," Professor Trawleny spoke as if she believed Harry was going to die tomorrow. Harry sighed. This dieing thing was getting old, he thought. The whole thing amused Ron. He rolled his eyes and stared at the professor.

After Divination they made their way to lunch. All Harry wanted was food and he didn't want to see Ron, Hermione, or Zelda. It was too dramatic.


	9. Quidditch Game

The middle of October had come, and the first game of Quidditch was approaching. Nobody was more excited then Ron. He wouldn't sit still. He didn't seem nervous at all, just excited. Harry was really nervous on his first game, but now he was captain and he was very confident. Hermione and Zelda were still fighting. Ron was absolutely oblivious. He had no clue what was going on. Even when Zelda found cockroaches in her soup, obviously Hermione's doing. Also on the day of the Quidditch robe fitting Hermione dropped a pie all over Zelda's robes. Hermione claimed it was an accident, but Harry and Riley knew better.

"We're going against Ravenclaw," Harry told everyone on October sixteenth (A week before the game). Everyone nodded their heads. They were ready.

* * *

" Welcome everyone today is the first Quidditch game of the year!" Kylie Carragan spoke into a microphone, "Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw. Now let us announce the teams." Kylie looked down at a sheet she had been given.

"The Gryffindor team is made up of three chasers who are Daniel Watson, Riley Evans, and Emma Grint." All three of them mounted their brooms, and flew off of the ground.

"Next are the beaters, they are Zelda Corcoran and Ron Weasley." Ron looked back at Harry and smiled before he flew.

"Then there is our keeper, Casey Prewar, and our captain and seeker, Harry Potter." Everyone in the stands cheered as all the Gryffindor teammates took their places on the field. Next were the Ravenclaws. The three chasers were Brenna Gallagher, Evan Lazas, and Brooke Gerone. The two Beaters were Jenna Jacobson, and Peter Smith. The keeper was Terence Peregrine, and the captain and seeker was Cho Chang. Madam Hooch came out onto the field and blew her whistle. The game had started. Emma got the Quaffle and zoomed towards the hoops. She threw, but Terence blocked it. She punched in the air and went off.

"Nice save by Terence Peregrine, lets just hope that he doesn't make many more of those saves or Gryffindor is going to be beat…" Kylie stopped, Professor McGonagall had given her a look. Harry hovered over the other players, looking around wildly for the snitch. He looked up and saw a bludger coming right at him. Suddenly Ron appeared and whacked it toward one of the Ravenclaw beaters.

"Thanks," Harry said.

"Don't mention it," Ron flew off again, trying to reach Daniel before the bludger hit him.

"RILEY EVANS HAS THE QUAFFLE AND IS FLYING TOWARD THE HOOP. WHERE IS THAT KEEPER? WOW, RILEY THROWS IT AND SCORES! TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR," Harry heard Kylie announce. Harry saw the snitch near Zelda and darted. Cho saw him and followed. They were side by side zooming toward Zelda. Ron saw this and hit a bludger toward Cho. She flipped and missed it by inches, but was now way behind.

"TEN POINTS TO RAVENCLAW!" Kylie screamed into the microphone. The Gryffindors in the crowd were booing and putting their thumbs down. The snitch moved, and Harry backed away. Harry heard a thump and saw that Ron had been hit by a bludger that was aimed at him. He clutched his arm for a moment, and then got back into action. A bludger now came right at him and he dodged it just in time. It hit Brenna Gallagher and she fell to the ground.

"ONE OF THE RAVENCLAW CHASERS IS DOWN. WAIT, SHE'S GETTING UP, SHE'LL BE FINE." Brenna got up and flew back up with her other teammates. Gryffindor had possession of the quaffle and Daniel made another goal. Emma also got a goal. By the end of the first hour the score was thirty to seventy. Gryffindor was leading by forty points. It was a great time to get the snitch. Harry saw the snitch again, and Cho did also. They raced downward. The snitch was near Riley now, and seemed to be following her. Harry saw that Riley was now near the stands. She knew where the snitch was and was going to stay as still as she could until Harry caught it. He flew toward the stand and Riley moved. Harry flew into the crowd and girl started to scream as he fell into the Slytherin section. Malfoy was smiling.

"Good aim Potter," he said, amused.

"Thanks," Harry said jumping back onto his broom, "Sorry!" He flew back into the field. He flew next to Riley.

"Why did you move?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"I had to get the quaffle," Riley said, flying faster. Suddenly a bludger hit the tip of his broom and he got pushed toward the wall. He couldn't stop the broom. Harry screamed. The wall was only a few inches from his nose when he got pulled back. Someone got hold of his robes and pulled him away from the wall. He looked around, but no one was there, and then hit him in the head. It was the snitch. It was just sitting there, waiting for him to grab it. He reached up, but it moved out of the way. Harry flew after it, because it was flying across the field, whacking many of the players. The little golden ball was starting to get on Harry's nerves.

"TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" he heard Kylie scream. Harry was getting tired, but he had to catch that snitch, and soon. Cho suddenly cut in front of him. She got too close and a bludger whacked him, and he fell of his broom. As he was falling his scar started to burn. Then he saw a ghost fly down holding the snitch. She reached out her hand, as if she was offering to give the snitch to him.

"Harry take it," the women said. She was older, and was carrying a book. Her smile was familiar to him. He took the snitch from her hand.

"Thanks," he said. She smiled again and disappeared. Harry curled his fingers around the little ball. He suddenly landed on the end of a broom. Ron was sitting in front of him.

"Are you okay Harry," he asked as they flew back up to Harry's broom, which was still floating in mid-air.

"Yeah I'm fine, did you see that ghost," Harry asked, as he jumped back on his broom.

"What ghost?" Ron asked, looking at Harry as if he was concerned.

"HARRY HAS GOT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Kylie screamed, jumping up and down. The crowd roared. The whole Quidditch team came up to him and patted him on the back. Except Zelda who was moving over to Ron.

"That was a great save. You're a hero!" Zelda yelled hugging Ron. They all flew down to the ground. Hermione was waiting.

"You were great Ron," she hugged him, "And you were great too Harry." Hermione was proud of both of them, and Ron had done a great job.

"We won my first game!" Ron yelled, "This is great! I can't wait to tell mum and dad! Even George and Fred, they didn't win _their_ first game! Ha!" Harry was glad that they had won, but he was still thinking about the woman. Had anyone else seen her? It didn't seem like it. No one was mentioning it.

They all made their way to dinner, happy. Ron was busy writing a letter to his brothers and parents.

_**Dear Mum, Dad, Percy, Fred, George, and everyone else,**_

_**I am a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and today we won our first game. And guess what Fred and George, I won my first game ever and our first Quidditch game! Ha! Even you two can't say that! Can you? NO! HAHAHA!**_

_**Love Ron**_


	10. What Zelda Wants, Zelda Gets

The next two weeks went by fast and to Harry's relief Ron and Hermione were getting along very well

One month passed and Gryffindor had won their Quidditch game against Slytherin. They were doing really good, and Ron was one of the best beaters Harry had ever seen. Even better then Ken Hornet, who was still pouting about not being able to play. Life was good. Except for a big problem, named Zelda. 

"This is getting ridiculous," Riley was saying as they walked toward potions, one day in mid-November, "They have been battling for months! One of them is going to do something really harsh, and we both know that." Harry nodded. It was getting to be a major problem. Harry couldn't even eat lunch without seeing them glaring at each other, or splashing each other with pumpkin juice. Riley was getting the worst of it. She had to deal with Hermione talking to her all the time about it. 

When they reached the classroom they took their seats. Potions had been very easy since the Voldemort incident. Harry guessed that it was because Voldemort had come and tried to hurt Harry, and Riley. All the students were completely grateful to both of them. Today they were just doing activities out of a book. It wasn't the most exciting thing, but no one could complain. They wanted to keep the classes as easy as possible, so the exams would be easy.

After dinner, everyone went up to their Common Rooms. Harry, Riley, Hermione, and Ron sat together on two couches. They were talking about school, Quidditch, and each other.

"Oh I know! That was so funny…" Ron stopped when someone put their hand on his shoulder. He turned his head around. Zelda was standing there, wearing her usual, fake, smile.

"Hi Ronny, um I think we should talk about strategies for the next game," Zelda said. 

"No that's okay, I think I'll stay here," Ron answered turning back to the others. Zelda frowned.

"We must! The last game a bludger almost hit Harry, because we weren't there! We need better strategy," Zelda pushed as hard as she could to get him to talk. Ron sighed and stood up. Zelda's frown turned into, once again, a smile. It was Hermione's turn to frown. Ron waved and went over to sit with Zelda. Harry thought Hermione was about to explode. That wasn't far from the truth.

"_Ronny?_! WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?" Hermione didn't scream or whisper, she said it so that Zelda and Ron couldn't hear. She stood up and started to walk over to them. Riley stopped her.

"Don't, it will only get you expelled." Hermione looked at Riley, and came over to sit down. Five minutes later she stood up.

"I'm going to bed," she was saying as she walked out of the room. A little while later the Common room was empty except for Harry and Riley. They sat quietly. Both couldn't say anything. They both decided to go to bed. So they did. 

Riley walked into the girl's dormitories. She walked into her room, but didn't see Hermione. That worried her.

"Oh no," she whispered. Voice could be heard, as she ran down the dark hallway. Both were familiar, and both were angry. Riley walked into a room, where Hermione and Zelda were yelling at each other, nobody besides them was in there. Riley tip toed in and hid behind an old bed.

"Stay away from my boyfriend!" Hermione was yelling, pointing an accusing finger at a surprised Zelda. Zelda only laughed.

"I can talk or be with whoever I want," Zelda flipped her hair back. Riley breathed in deep. This fight was going to be ugly.

"Oh no you can't!" Hermione screamed, her face going red. She was not going to back down that easy.

"Oh yes I can! What I want I get, it's that simple."

"Well you can't have Ron."

"Who says I can't? You?" Zelda laughed as she said this. She lifted her hand ready to hit Hermione. Riley jumped out from behind the bed. Both girls jumped back.

"Don't hit her!" Riley yelled, walking toward them.

"Oh and are you going to stop me? I don't think so," Zelda scratched Riley across the face. Three red lines crossed her face. Riley cried in pain. Hermione grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. They both ran down to the common room. To their surprise Harry was sleeping on one of the couches. Hermione pushed Riley into a chair. Riley wasn't crying anymore, but was rubbing her face. Harry woke up, and stared at Riley.

"What happened?" Harry asked, sitting next to Riley, trying to pry her hands away from her bleeding face. 

"Zelda scratched Riley, and its really bad" Hermione said, putting a wet paper towel over Riley's wounds. The scratch wasn't what hurt Riley. Zelda had said a spell under her breath. Riley didn't know what it did. Harry was confused, and tired. He didn't want to know all the details. All he wanted to do was to get Riley help.

"How can she scratch that bad? She broke the skin, what kind of nails does she have?" Harry was examining the scratch. Hermione shrugged her shoulders. She started to help Riley up.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking her to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione replied, dragging Riley behind her. They ran out the door and down the hall. Hermione turned to Riley.

"Can you make us both invisible?" Riley nodded.

"Yeah, but I can't hold it for long anymore, it's hard to concentrate," she pointed to her face. Hermione knew something else was wrong.

"This isn't just a scratch is it?" Hermione asked. Riley didn't answer. They were passing the Slytherin Common room, when Riley sunk to the ground. She was panting, as if she had run a mile. Blood was still dripping from her face.

"This is not just a scratch, you wouldn't be bleeding like that, and you defiantly wouldn't be fainting," Hermione knew she had to get to Madam Pomfrey quick. Hermione had no choice but to get the Slytherins. She ran to the picture wall.

"Password?" the painting asked, coolly. Hermione knew the password, from trips to see Draco and Snape..

"Blood & bones!" Let me in!" Hermione screamed. The wall opened and Hermione entered the Common room. Nobody was there. She ran to Snape's room, and pounded on the door.

"Professor, professor!" Snape answered the door, looking annoyed.

"Miss. Granger! You are not allowed in here!"

"It's Riley! She's like…fainting! Hurry!" Hermione screamed. She turned and started running down the hall toward Draco's room. Draco sat straight up when Hermione burst through the door. 

"What are you doing in here?" Draco asked, yawning.

"Just get up Malfoy!" Snape yelled from behind Hermione. At that, Draco got out of bed and ran out the door. Outside they met Ron and Harry, who had followed Hermione and Riley. Everyone dragged Riley, who was now unconscious, to the nurse. Madam Pomfrey got right to work. Everybody went to bed….Except Snape. He stayed with Riley.

The next morning they all stopped by to see how she was doing. Riley was asleep when they came.

"It wasn't just scratches she got. There was also poison running through her blood. We have done everything possible, and she should be able to return to classes in two days. Any questions?" Madam Pomfrey asked. All heads turned toward Riley. She was breathing steadily. 

"Where did the poison come from?" Hermione asked, looking at her sleeping friend. 

"That question I can not answer," Madam Pomfrey claimed, "I do not know where it came from." Harry and the others couldn't think of what could go wrong next. There was nothing they all thought. Unfortunately they were wrong.

Riley came to classes on Thursday, two days after the accident. Her face looked better and her make-up helped. Malfoy and Snape were being overly protective. She didn't like it at all. 

"What is wrong with them?" Riley asked Harry. It was the middle of January, and Ron and Hermione hadn't talked to each other since that morning. Ron claimed that he got a note from Hermione saying she didn't want to go out with him anymore. Hermione seemed equally as mad. His best friend's love lives were confusing him, big time.


	11. What Is Wrong With This Picture?

"Can you believe this? Look! Look at this letter he wrote to me! Telling me that he likes Zelda and wants to be her boyfriend!" Hermione was saying to Riley in Hogsmeade. Riley took the piece of paper, reluctantly.

_**Hermione- I am really sorry but… I think we have to break up. I truly am sorry, but I like someone else. I don't think we should be friends anymore. My new girlfriend wouldn't approve. Goodbye. Forever. –Ron.**_

It was Ron's handwriting, but something seemed wrong. Something seemed missing. Riley shook her suspicion off and handed the note back to Hermione, who was waiting patiently. She suddenly scowled, and Riley looked down the road. Zelda and Ash were walking down the road, in their direction. Hermione walked away. Riley heard Zelda whisper something to Ash, as they walked past her.

"It worked, I just knew it would. That little prat, Hermione, is away from Ron, and now he's mine!" Zelda was saying, rather loudly.

" You're a genius Zel," Ash agreed. They laughed. Riley clenched her fists and squinted her eyes. 

"I know," Zelda said. Riley took a step forward, but then stepped back. She knew what had happened last time. The anger pulsed through her, but she resisted the temptation to just punch something. Hermione hadn't heard. She was talking to Lina Black near one of the stores. It was Zelda, the girl she had seen in her dream. What was going to happen with Zelda? It was obvious to Riley now that Zelda had written the note. She couldn't tell Hermione yet though. It wasn't safe. If Zelda had a bigger part than Riley knew, then Hermione could possibly be in all sorts of danger. Riley turned and walked over to Lina and Hermione. There were still three more clues from her dream that she needed to discover. She planned to find them soon. 

* * *

"Look at this note Harry! Isn't it awful!" Ron was screaming. Harry rolled his eyes and took the letter. It was smeared, and Harry tried desperately hard to read it. 

_**Ron- I can't believe I have to do this, but we absolutely must brake up. It was your entire fault Riley got poisoned! How dare you?! Goodbye. Forever.**_

_**Hermione**_

It was awful. It was hard to believe that Hermione Granger could write something like that, but it was her handwriting. There was something wrong, but Harry couldn't put his finger on it. 

"Come on Harry, I have to go buy some owl food for Pig. He is getting way too fat, but he must eat right?" Ron said, trying to sound cheerful. Harry knew it was fake. Ron couldn't possibly be happy at a time like this. They walked into the pet shop and bought Ron's owl some food. When they walked out, Professor McGonagall was collecting everyone. It was time to go back to Hogwarts. 

As soon as they got back to Hogwarts, everyone ate dinner. Most of the students weren't hungry. A full day at Hogsmeade filled you up, with sweets, and butterbeer. It was announced that a Valentines Day dance was to be scheduled. This made Ron sink down into his chair. Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. Harry also caught Zelda grinning, from the other side of the long table. This made him angry. Ron wasn't going to ask her, or was he? Harry glanced at Ron. He wasn't quite sure. The way everything was going, Harry wasn't quite sure of anything at the moment. 

* * *

Riley lied awake in her bed that night. The letter and its words stuck in her head. Zelda was a pretty good forger. Ron's handwriting was almost perfect. Sugarfoot pounced up on Riley's bed, and started to purr loudly. Riley smiled, and pulled the cat over to her. She gave Sugarfoot a hug, and petted her. The cat just lied there with Riley and fell asleep. The letter wasn't a very good subject when you are trying to go to sleep. Riley rolled over in her bed, and yawned. She was tired. There must be something to make me go to sleep, Riley thought. 

"Draco," she whispered out loud. That subject was perfect. Draco and the dance would surely make her go asleep. Just thinking about herself being held by one of the hottest boys at Hogwarts made her tingle with excitement. The dance would be great, and she knew it. The only hard part was waiting for it to happen. 

Her thoughts drifted back to Hermione and Ron. They would have been going to the dance together, if it weren't for Zelda. That girl was so horrid, Riley thought, frowning. Zelda was right though. She always got what she wanted, and she would do anything to get it. Zelda had gotten what she wanted all her life, but now she was in Riley's territory, and Riley would do anything to get Ron and Hermione back together. For Harry's sake, for their sake, and for her own. There was no way a snobby, horrible girl was going to ruin Valentines Day for her and her date. No one, not Zelda, or even Voldemort. 

* * *

January passed, and February came without any warning. The air was bitter cold, and the students were seen wearing coats wherever they went. Mugs of hot cocoa were served in the hallways, and the teachers were giving less homework. Less homework was especially good for the Quidditch players. More practice time meant more wins and points for Gryffindor. Ron and Hermione were still battling, and Riley was seeing more images every day. Images of Voldemort, Sirius, and an old woman kept coming to her. Riley still hadn't figured out who the mysterious woman was. This bothered her very much. How was she supposed to prepare if she didn't know exactly what was going to happen? 

More news of the dance was leaking throughout the school. Rumors were being spread. No one knew exactly what the Great Hall was going to look like. Harry and Riley both didn't want to think about the decorations. Harry just didn't want anything strange to happen at the dance. Something wrong always seemed to happen. It was personally very annoying to him. Fighting evil Wizards wasn't his idea of a good time. In fact Harry guessed no one enjoyed that. 

Zelda was the exact opposite. She loved to gossip, and spread rumors. Most of which were not true. Cakes, doves, and hearts were what she imagined. Lina had already told Harry that Zelda had been telling everyone she was going with Ron. Ron hadn't confirmed anything yet, he was too busy glaring at Hermione or trying to run away from her in the halls. Hermione wasn't much better. She spent most of her time glaring, talking, or reading. Ron wasn't part of her busy schedule anymore. That thought made Harry think about the letter Ron had shown him. Zelda just wanted to ruin everyone's lives. All this fight was over a cup of pudding that Ron offered so nicely. _The fool_, Harry thought. Why couldn't he have kept his mouth shut?

* * *

The dance was in two days and anyone who didn't have a date was rushing around. The whole school was a buzz of excitement. Harry and Lina were going together, and Riley and Draco were going. Ron still didn't have a date, even though Zelda had been hinting to him all week. Hermione also didn't have a date. Riley was sick of hearing about Hermione's problems.

"I hope Ron has a horrible time with Zelda!" Hermione would yell to Riley. Riley would just always nod her head yes. There was no use in arguing, Riley figured. It would only make things much worse. They walked to the Great Hall where everyone as meeting for dinner. Ron and Harry sat across from each other talking. Hermione and Riley walked up to them.

"So I think you should go here and Zelda should position herself over there…" Harry was saying to Ron, who was frowning at Harry's idea.

"No I think Zelda should go there…" Ron pointed to a piece of paper, where a map was drawn of the Quidditch field. 

"Wait, yeah that would work," Harry agreed, now looking up at Riley and Hermione. Ron still hadn't noticed they were standing there. Hermione sat next to Harry, and Riley sat down across from her. Harry started to pile food on top of his plate. Riley looked at him, disgusted.

"Why can't you be polite and take your servings one at a time?" Riley asked. Harry looked up, and Riley saw a piece of cheese hanging off his chin. Riley started to giggle, and Hermione looked up. When she saw Harry's chin she just looked back down at her food. 

Zelda walked over.

"Hey Ron, we have practice tonight right?" she asked, glancing very quickly at Hermione. 

"Yeah," Ron didn't even look up, he kept pointing his figure on different places of the map. Zelda gulped, as if she were nervous. 

"Good cause I have to ask you something?" Zelda replied, her face twisting into a smile. Riley saw Hermione's eyes drift upward and over to Zelda and Ron. Riley even thought for a moment that she saw a tear form in Hermione's eye. Ron just nodded. Zelda walked away, smirking. Ash ran up to her, and whispered something in Zelda's ear. The two girls suddenly rang with laughter. Harry looked at Riley. He lifted himself up off his chair, and walked over to Ron.

"Come on we're going," Harry pulled on Ron's arm. Ron resisted at first. The he too lifted off his chair, and snatched the paper. For the first time he saw Riley and Hermione sitting there.

"Oh, hi Riley," Ron said, smiling. Then he turned towards Hermione, he frowned.

"Hello, Hermione," Ron continued, walking away.

"Hello Ron. I hope you have a great time with Zelda," Hermione answered, looking down, once again, at her food. Ron stopped. He looked back at them. Riley saw something in his eyes. Sadness. Ron looked down at the ground, then turned around and followed Harry out of the hall. Riley started to eat her food, slowly. Zelda had done a lot of damage to both Hermione and Ron. 

* * *

The day of the dance had arrived. Streamers of red and pink were hung everywhere. Everyone was off from their classes, so the teachers were seen putting up decorations. Peeves had brought in a little fairy that was also known as cupid, who was flying around the school. Cupid was shooting little arrows at everyone, which was making everyone irritable. Everyone except Zelda, who was still as cheery as could be.

She had gotten Ron to agree to go to the dance with her. Everyone knew because she was spreading it around the school. Ron didn't seem too happy about that, but he took the embarrassment as it came. Hermione still hadn't found a date, but decided to go to the dance anyway. Riley guessed it was because she wanted to spy on Zelda and Ron. The truth was that Riley wanted to spy on them too. It was going to be interesting. Very interesting. 

* * *

"I hate dressing up," Ron was telling Harry, as they got ready to head down to the dance. Ron was trying to fix his tie. Harry smiled. Seeing Ron Weasley trying to get dressed up was amusing. 

"I can see why, you can't put on a tie to save your life," Harry said, walking over to help him. 

"So you're going with Zelda," Harry mumbled. Ron stood up straight, as if he was nervous.

"Yeah," Ron answered, straightened his shirt.

"Well I hope you two have a good time, she is nice to almost everyone," Harry had finished on Ron's tie and was now trying to do his. Ron turned to him.

"What do you mean," Ron asked, looking skeptical.

"What?" 

"What do you mean almost everyone?" 

"She's not kind to everyone, that was all I was saying."

"Who?" Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He glared at Ron.

"Who? How about your old girlfriend Hermione!" Harry screamed. Ron stepped back. Then he walked over to his bed and put everything else on, without saying a word to Harry. Before he walked out, he looked at Harry again. When Ron had gone, Harry was speechless. That conversation had surprised him. He got ready and walked down to the common room, where Lina, Riley, Draco, and Hermione were waiting for him. Lina was wearing a maroon dress that sunk down to her knees. Riley was wearing a similar dress, but was made of dark blue velvet. Sparkles took the form of butterflies at the bottom of the dress. Hermione was wearing a green velvet dress that went down to her ankles. She was the only one frowning.

"Come on Harry," Malfoy said, patting him on the back. The couples walked hand in hand down the hall, followed closely by a frowning Hermione. 

They entered the Great Hall and got covered in pink and red confetti. Riley laughed and they walked forward. A fast song was playing and they all walked out onto the dance floor. The beat was fast, so they had to shake, and flow with the music. Harry was looking around, desperately trying to locate Zelda and Ron. Finally he spotted them, near Ash and her date. Zelda was twirling and Ron was dancing wildly. 

Cupid came over to Harry and shot him with one the arrows. He screeched and swatted at the fairy. It zoomed back and forth. Harry tried to hit it once again, and yelled when it shot him again. Cupid flew away, laughing. Harry frowned and turned to Lina, who was waiting patiently.

"I hate that thing!" Harry hollered. Lina smiled.

"Me too, let's dance." Harry and Lina started to dance again. Riley and Malfoy were dancing right next to them, laughing. _This is so much fun_, Harry thought. Ron and Zelda walked toward them, and Harry smiled when they stopped next to Harry and started to dance as well. Everyone was having so much fun that they forgot about poor Hermione, who was still standing near the punch bowl. 

"This is no fun at all," Hermione whispered. She stood watching all the couples dancing happily. Including Ron and Zelda. Hermione looked away and poured herself another glass of punch. Many songs went by until a slow song came. All the couples got together and danced, slow danced. Hermione sat down, wondering why she couldn't get a date. Everyone should have been on her side after that note that Ron gave to her. None of the boys that were left wanted to go with her. She looked up and saw Ron and Zelda dancing together. Then Zelda leaned up her head and they kissed. Tears formed in Hermione's eyes and she looked away.

Ron pulled back, as Zelda kissed him. He was not ready for that. He stepped back, and shook his head.

"No Zelda," he said. Zelda glared at him. He glanced over at Harry and saw that he and Riley were both smiling. 

"Why not? I went to all this trouble, an you reply no," Zelda's voice sounded shaky.

"I don't like you that much… and what do you mean all that trouble," Ron asked, squinting his eyes, in anger. Zelda's mouth fell open and she said nothing. Ron pivoted on his right foot, and walked towards Hermione, who was sitting down in the corner. He stopped in front of her, and held his hand out to her. She stared at him for a moment, then took his hand and stood up. Hermione smiled at him and they walked out onto the dance floor. Another slow song played and they slow danced. Hermione put her hands behind Ron's neck and Ron put his hands on her waist. They flowed with the music, gracefully.

"Why exactly did you break up with me?" Hermione asked. Ron just looked at her.

"_You_ broke up with me," Ron said. Hermione looked surprised.

"No, I got this note from you," Hermione pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. Ron looked at it and pulled out another piece of paper. They switched them and read quietly, as they danced. Both of them looked confused.

"I didn't write this," both Hermione and Ron said, loudly. 

"Reality check," Harry said, as he danced over to them.

"It was Zelda," Riley finished, still swaying with Draco. Ron understood. 

"She told me tonight about all the trouble she gone to, before I walked away." Ron was saying.

"How could she be so cruel?" Hermione asked, looking over at Zelda in disgust. Zelda was now sitting in the spot where Hermione was. Ron laughed along with Hermione. They finished their dance, and kissed at the end. 

Nobody was happier than Harry and Riley. 

"Well I guess they're back together," Riley whispered to him, as they got ready to dance.

"Yep," Harry answered, smiling. Everyone started to dance to a fast beat song. Lights were flashing, and confetti was being thrown. The room filled with noise that echoed off the walls. It was so much fun. 

Ron and Hermione were dancing wildly. Hermione suddenly felt a jolt of pain in her head. Then the pain got worse and she sunk to the floor, holding her head. The last thing she saw was Ron looking concerned. 

At the same time Riley's head started to hurt bad. She also sunk to the ground and passed out. Nobody seemed to notice. Everyone was having too much fun. Both girls saw the same thing…Ron lying dead on the ground, and wands being chopped in two. They both were too shocked to cry out.

"Harry! Come here," Ron cried out, looking at Hermione's still body. Harry saw what was happening and ran over. They both also heard Draco call out. He came running over to them.

"Riley fainted!" Draco yelled, immediately stopping when he saw Hermione.

"What is going on?" he continued. Nobody knew. Suddenly, all the students around them froze. Dumbledore came running down from his chaperone table. Draco dragged Riley over next to Hermione. Both girls looked dead. Dumbledore looked at both of them.

"Wow! How did you do this?" Draco asked, looking around at the frozen children. 

"That's not important right now." Dumbledore said, his voice sounding calm, "Draco and Ron go get wet paper towels." They did as they were told. Draco and Ron ran out of the Great hall. When they were gone the two girls woke up, and yawned.

"What happened?" Harry asked. Hermione and Riley now looked frightened.

"We saw the future," Riley replied looking at Hermione. She nodded.


	12. Ron's Birthday

The next two weeks went by fast and to Harry's relief Ron and Hermione were getting along very well

"Ron you're not dead!" Riley and Hermione screamed, as Ron and Malfoy walked back into the Great Hall. They both ran over to Ron and threw their arms around him. To Harry's surprise, Ron looked like he expected it.

"Ok am I like really pale or something, because I seem to be getting that a lot," Ron said, hugging the girls back. Riley pulled away and hugged Malfoy, who was completely confused. Suddenly all the students were back, and the music was blaring loud. The end of the song approached and Dumbledore walked in front of everyone.

"Alright students, it is time for you to travel up to your dormitories." Everyone walked out, sadly. The halls were filled of noise as they made there way up the stairs that were constantly moving. Hermione was absolutely giddy that she got her boyfriend back, and Ron was still going on about the dead thing. Riley seemed really worried, and she knew that beneath Hermione's act she was upset as well. Riley's thoughts kept going back to Hermione's dream during the summer. Ron had died in that dream as well. She went to bed that night still thinking, and hoping that the dreams meant nothing. 

* * *

The end of February came. Nobody seemed ready for it, except Ron. His birthday was March first, and he was definitely ready for that.

"Presents!" Ron would holler to everyone that would listen. Harry finally told him to shut up about it. Ron did, though Harry could tell it was really hard for him. 

* * *

"Happy birthday Ron!" Hermione ran in on Saturday March first. She came over to Ron's bed and handed him a present. Riley soon followed. Both girls were carrying boxes covered in wrapping paper. They each had a huge smile on their face. Ron woke immediately and threw back his blanket. He snatched the presents out of their hands and ripped the paper. The sound of ripping, and crunching woke Harry up. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Pig was waiting at the window, along with two others owls. Since no one else seemed to notice, he crept out of bed and pulled the window open. The owls flew in with boxes and presents. Pig placed a small green box on Ron's desk. Harry looked at it for a moment then ran over to where Riley, Hermione, and Ron were opening all the gifts he was receiving. Four owls arrived a little while later, and started banging their small head against the glass. They all carried presents as well. 

"This one is from my parents, and this is from Charlie, and this is Bill's present," Ron was yelling, as he ripped, pulled, and crunched the rapping paper. Fred, George, and Ron's parents gave him all sorts of sweets. Fred and George also sneaked in a few trick wands, and potions. Bill sent him some money, and told him to spend it on himself. Charlie sent him a book on dragons. Harry was rather interested in the dragons.

"Hagrid would love this, Harry said, flipping through the many pages of the creatures. The other owls were from Malfoy, Dumbledore, and Hagrid. Ron seemed to love all his gifts.

"I'll go get Ginny!" Hermione jumped up and ran out. Ron turned to Harry.

"Well, did you get me anything?" Ron asked, smiling. Harry nodded, and got up. He ran over to his desk and pulled out a long object. He handed the large present to Ron.

"A broomstick! A Firebolt 2002!" Ron screeched, ripping the brown paper. A shiny, light broomstick emerged from the bottom, and then came the think straw of the broom part. Ron was absolutely delighted. Riley moved over to Ron's desk, where the tiny green box still sat. She picked it up, and observed it. The lid lifted a bit, and she looked in it. A cough lifted from her throat and She closed the box. Harry took the box from her and threw it at Ron, who was still hugging his broomstick. Ron looked extremely happy when he saw he had another present.

He pulled the cap off the box and a gust of some sort of powder flew out at him. Ron started to cough, and glared at the box.

"My mum used to pack present in this stuff! I told her nobody liked to be hit in the face with a bunch of particle!" he yelled, coughing. Harry squinted as the powder hit him. Riley stepped back. Ron was now looking inside the box at a small note lying at the bottom. He read the note and ran out of the room. Soon after Hermione and Ginny ran in.

"Where is he going?" Ginny asked. Harry shrugged, and also ran past them into the hall. He heard the girls following him. They ran past the many doors of students, and tramped down the steps. Nobody seemed to be awake except for them. Harry was sure they were going to wake someone up. He looked behind him to see two girls running. Ginny's red hair was flying in front of her face, and Hermione also had her head turned. Riley wasn't following. Hermione suddenly turned her head, and shrugged. Harry looked forward once again as they came into the common room. Ron was sitting in one of the chairs.

"He told me to…" Ron glanced at Ginny, who was listening intently. 

"What?" Ginny asked, looking at all three of them. Hermione bit her lip. 

"Should I tell her?" Ron asked. Harry nodded, and Hermione did as well.

"Tell me what?"

"I'm waiting for Sirius to show up. He told me to wait down here." Ginny's mouth dropped open at the sound of Sirius's name.

"Sirius Black!" Ginny screamed, taking a step back. They all shushed her.

"Don't worry Ginny he's nice. He's my godfather. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, and as you already know he never killed Pettigrew. Just don't tell anyone about this!" Harry told her, looking around to see if anyone else was listening. Riley suddenly appeared. Behind her Sugarfoot walked, carrying something on her back. The small cat ran over to Ron and pounced onto his lap. Once the little animal had gotten comfortable, she lied down, and closed her small green eyes. Ron told the package that was on her back and ripped it open. A brand new beater stick was in his hands. It was made of red wood and was as light as a feather. It had been polished pretty well, so it shined in the morning sun. It was the best stick Harry had ever seen.

Ron was about to jump up, but realized that the cat was still on his lap. Riley walked over and took the sleeping cat off Ron and sat down with it. The cat purred loudly as Riley smoothed back its hair. The beater stick was flying through the air as Ron was jumping and laughing. Hermione was smiling, and Harry was trying to take it away from an overly excited Ron. 

"Let me see it!" Harry yelled, pulling the wooden stick away from Ron. At first Ron struggled to grab it back, but then Hermione came over to hug him. 

"All new robes, a new broomstick, and a new beater stick! Wow, everyone is going to be so jealous," Hermione exclaimed marveling at all Ron's new equipment. Ron blushed slightly. 

"I've got to write to my family! Fred and George are going to be so mad!" Ron yelled, as he ran. Hermione and Riley laughed. Harry was still examining the new stick.

The following Monday came quick. Presents were piling up in Ron and Harry's room. To his surprise, Ron found out that he was pretty popular. Hermione was especially happy for Ron. He had never gotten this much attention before.


	13. Wand Trouble

" Since it is April, you all should be getting ready for your finals," Professor Flitwick was saying. They were lifting up weights that weighed fifteen pounds that day.

"Now lift your wand, and say _mamosa_." Everyone did as they were told. Neville, who could usually do some magic, was swatting his wand and whacking people's desks. The professor was getting impatient.

"Mr. Longbottom, what seems to be the problem?" Professor Flitwick asked, sounding annoyed. Neville shook his head.

"I don't know professor; my wand is not working at all." Neville screeched, as he hit Lavender Brown's arm. She yelped and pulled her red arm back. At that moment Neville's wand flew out of his fingers, and into the pale hand of Flitwick. The tiny little professor flicked the wand, but nothing happened. He frowned, and tried again, nothing happened. 

"That is peculiar," Professor Flitwick looked as if he didn't know what to say, "We should get this checked out, take it to Professor Dumbledore." Suddenly a girl named Lisa Penne stood up.

"Mine isn't working either Professor," Lisa said, holding up her wand. Riley looked up and then looked at Harry. Flitwick looked absolutely shocked.

"Well both of you go…"

"We don't know the way," Lisa and Neville said at the same time.

"Well then… um," Flitwick had no clue what to do, "I can't leave the class…" Riley and Harry stood at the same time.

"I'll take them!" they both rang. Professor Flitwick looked flabbergasted.

"Okay, go then, but please check in other classes to see if they have lost power in their wands as well." Riley and Harry nodded, as they followed Neville and Lisa out the door. They walked down the corridor silently. Riley could hear the classes talking and laughing. They turned and stopped in front of Snape's classroom. Riley opened the door, which made a swooshing sound. Snape looked up, and all the students, probably in their second year, turned in their seats. 

"Yes?" Riley gulped.

"Um we need to know if anyone's wand has stopped working," Riley answered. Snape looked puzzled, but turned to his class.

"Everyone perform the fire spell three times, and if your wand doesn't work please come up here," Snape told all of them. Five came forward. Snape frowned.

"What is this all about?" he whispered to Riley.

"Some students in our class weren't able to use their wands," Riley whispered back, looking at the five students. They left, and went to the classroom next door. Harry walked in this time.

"Um… Professor Binns, have any of your students not been able to use their wands?" Harry asked, catching Ginny Weasley's eye, who was sitting in the back row. Professor Binns gave Harry a confused, doubtful look, then turned to his class.

"Do some kind of spell, and try it two times." Everyone did as they were told. To Harry's amazement Ginny stood up and walked over to him, followed by one more girl. The next classroom had three more students, who were only in their first year. Riley and Harry decided to stop at Dumbledore's office before they went on. The group of students climbed up the steps after Harry whispered the password to the statue that was sitting outside of it. No one heard him. Once they came to the large wooden door, Harry knocked. Dumbledore answered, and stared at the big group at his door.

"Well, come in," he said, smiling. Everyone entered the room, and sighed. The walls were covered with pictures of past headmasters who were waving and smiling at the students. The first years were looking around, wide-eyed. Even Harry was a little woozy, even though he had been in this room before. 

"Now who do we have here?" Dumbledore asked. Everyone went down their names. The first year students were Leslie DeMarco, Adam Allers, and Eric Ducharme. The second years were Meredith Grasso, Haley Caufeild, Carmen Plaine, Zack Johnson, and Kevin Kramer. Ginny Weasley and Eva Cantor were the two fifth years.

""Well, why are you all here?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes gleaming. Harry answered.

"All of their wands are not working, none of them can perform magic. We haven't gone to nearly all of the classrooms. We still have about a hundred classes to go to." Dumbledore looked over at the other students, who were still looking around.

"Zack and Leslie don't touch that!" Both of them backed away from the sorting hat. Riley grinned, and Harry tried hard not to laugh. Dumbledore turned his attention back to Riley and Harry. 

"I want you to take these students back to their classes, and please check the other classes for more. I will take their wands and check them to see what is going on. Now go!" Dumbledore said. Harry and Riley nodded. All of the magic-less students handed their wands over to Dumbledore, and left with Harry and Riley. Riley and Harry checked in with Professor Flitwick after they had dropped off the other students. Neville and Lisa returned to their seats, wand-less. Hermione and Ron requested to go with them. Professor Flitwick, who was still very confused, said yes. All four of them walked down the halls collecting more and more students, until the total reached about fifty. The whole thing amazed Hermione.

"I hope that doesn't happen to me," Hermione said cringing. Ron asked if anyone they knew had lost their powers.

"Ginny has," Harry answered. Ron's eyes became wide, and he frowned.

"This is bad!" he yelled as they walked toward the Great Hall for dinner. Harry figured that if Hermione didn't know what was happening, then no one did. Dumbledore seemed as confused as everyone else. People who had lost the power in their wands were talking to him. All the students sat and Dumbledore stood up.

"Did everyone bring their wands?" Dumbledore asked, looking at each table. Wands were being flung in the air.

"Okay, well everyone I want you to change your juice," a silver cup suddenly appeared in front of everyone, " into tea. Go!" Riley took out her wand and chanted the spell. Her juice suddenly smoked, then turned into earl gray tea. Ron did the same, and then Harry. Hermione was last, and also performed the spell successfully. Zelda suddenly stood up, along with about five other people. 

"My wand isn't working! It was working fine earlier!" Zelda screamed, seeming very panicked. Harry glanced at Hermione, who was trying very hard not to laugh or even smile. The truth was this wasn't funny. None of them knew if or when their wands were going to stop. Harry had a very bad feeling. He also knew that something was bugging him, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

* * *

Over the next two weeks more and more people were losing their powers. Ron, Harry, Riley, and Hermione had not lost it yet. Everyday at dinner, breakfast, and lunch Dumbledore would check. At least five people would stand up every meal, and hand over their broken wands to the teachers. 

"Now everyone," Dumbledore was saying one morning at the end of April, "Lets do the regular check of wands this morning." Harry, Ron, and Riley all did their magic successfully. Then it was Hermione's turn. She tried the spell, and nothing happened.

"_Turntea_!" she yelled. Nothing happened. Harry couldn't believe that Hermione, one of the best witches he knew lost her power. She stared at the cup for a moment, and then stood up. Riley noticed that Draco Malfoy was standing as well. When Hermione traveled up to Dumbledore whispers were being told everywhere. Hermione Granger was the last person anybody would think that would loose their power. Even Dumbledore seemed pretty confused.

"Your wand isn't working?" he asked Hermione. She nodded. His mouth opened and closed, then he took the wooden stick. Hermione turned on her heel, and walked back to the noisy Gryffindor table. Malfoy also walked up and handed his wand to Dumbledore. Riley shot him a sympathetic look as he walked by the table. Malfoy gave her a weak smile, and turned toward his table. 

"Isn't that Ron's box?" Harry asked Riley, as she got her Quidditch equipment. Riley turned and looked at the small green box Sirius had given Ron. It was sitting on the table, it's lid securely tight. 

"Yeah, but did that note look like Sirius's handwriting?" Riley answered, grabbing her broom. Harry looked at the box.

"Yeah I think it did." Harry was now looking at Riley. She flipped her scarf around her neck, and breathed in deep.

"Oh okay," she walked toward the door. Harry followed. They ran down the halls, and many stairways. Ron caught up with them, and they all entered the Quidditch field together. Zelda sat on a bench waiting for everyone to show up. When she saw them enter, she jolted out of her seat and over to them.

"My wand! It wasn't working at dinner! What is going on?" she yelled, stomping her foot on the wet grass. Ron shrugged and moved away. Zelda watched this and screamed. As she pivoted she tripped and fell face first into the mud. Riley and Harry gasped. Ron turned and saw Zelda lying on the ground covered in mud. He started to laugh wildly. Then Harry and Riley joined in. Zelda jumped up and tripped again. This time she fell on her rear, and started to weep.

"Ah! I hate this! I hate it!" she hollered, sliding. Riley let out another giggle, but stopped. She could see ghosts across the field. Three ghosts, having a conversation. One walked off the field and the other two turned toward Riley. One was familiar and Riley automatically turned and ran.

"Riley!" she heard Harry scream, but she had to get into the building and fast. The floors were just polished, and made a squeaking sound when she ran. Her shoes left a trail of mud on the tiles, but she didn't care. A glance told her that Harry wasn't following her. The girl's bathroom was just ahead of her, and she ran a little faster. The door slammed shut as she entered the dirty room. A gurgling sound was coming from one of the stalls and she ran in. The head of a young girl was sticking out of the toilet. Riley recognized her as Moaning Myrtle.

"Well isn't it nice of you to join me Riley Evans," Myrtle sang out. Riley squinted her eyes, and took a moment to breathe. Running took all the breath out of her.

"Tired are we?" Myrtle went on. Riley nodded, and then stood up straight.

"How did you get here so fast?" Riley asked, just realizing what had happened.

"Honey I'm a ghost," Myrtle answered, "I can do many mysterious things." Riley shook her head.

"Who was the older ghost you were talking to?" Riley stared at Myrtle, patiently waiting for her answer. Myrtle sighed.

"Why can't anyone ever visit just to say hello?" Myrtle said, sounding upset, "That was Dana Evans, wonderful woman." Riley couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What?"

"Your grandmother naturally," Myrtle spoke softly. Riley shook her head, and turned. Hermione was standing at the door. Her robes were ripped, and she had several cuts on her arms, legs, and face. Her hair was matted, and pieces of wood seemed to be stuck in it. Riley almost fell backward at the sight of her.

"Hermione, welcome," Myrtle said, from behind Riley. 

"Hermione what happened?" Riley screamed, taking a step toward her. Hermione stepped back and looked into Riley's eyes.

"Help Ron! Help him! Help him Riley!" Hermione started chanting. 


	14. The World We Live In

"Riley are you alright?" Hermione was hovering over Riley, who had fainted on the ground. Riley's eyes snapped open, and her crystal blue eyes showed a touch of fear. Hermione backed off and Riley sat up. Neither of them knew what happened. Riley looked at Hermione strangely, and then observed her from her head to her toes.

"What happened to you? What did you do with your robes? Did you change? What happened to all your cuts?" Riley grabbed Hermione's wrists and pulled the sleeve of her robes up. Hermione had no clue what was going on, so she just let Riley check her arms.

"Riley are you okay?" Hermione asked again. Riley rubbed her head, and stood up. She wobbled a bit then stood still.

"Hard fall?" Myrtle said. Riley turned to see Myrtle smiling.

"What did you do?" Riley asked, edging closer to the haunted toilet.

"Absolutely nothing. Hermione opened the door, you looked at her strangely for a moment, and then you collapsed," Myrtle replied, wearing a rather annoying smirk.

"I must have been seeing the future," Riley whispered to herself. There was no doubt in her mind that Ron was going to die, but she pushed that thought away.

"Well go on," Riley said, pointing to Myrtle. Hermione sat down on the floor, and waited eagerly. Riley sat next to her. Myrtle perked her chin up and smiled.

"Dana Evans was always really nice to me. She was a teacher here at Hogwarts," Hermione looked at Riley, and then looked down, " When I died she was very upset and tried to help out with my case. Of course no one ever really knew what happened to me, but she tried her hardest. She only died about ten years ago and started to come back here and visit. She would tell me of her husband Ross, and her three daughters Lily, Petunia, and Tracey." Riley and Hermione didn't know what to say. Myrtle went on with the story.

"She would also tell me of her wonderful grand children. There was the oldest Aileen Martin, and then there was Dudley Dursley. Then of course there was Riley Snape and Harry Potter. She told me how Aileen is currently working in Diagon Alley at a bookshop. Dudley is going on a diet, she also told me about that as well. Dana chuckled when she spoke of that. Dana admitted that she always loved James Potter, and how unhappy she is that he is dead as well." Hermione and Riley's mouths were open wide. Where did this grandmother come from, Riley thought, scratching her head.

"She is especially proud of you and Harry, Riley. She loves how you two can just always save the day.," said Myrtle, pointing to Riley, "She also likes the friends you've chosen." Hermione smiled, and blushed a bit.

"Why hasn't she confronted me or Harry?" Riley asked, a sense of doubt crept into her mind.

"She has, but not to you," Myrtle murmured, " She has shown herself to Harry." A sudden thought came to Riley.

"I have seen her," Riley gasped. Myrtle looked up.

"She was in one of my premonitions! She's the ghost!" Riley yelled.

"Is my mother a witch?" Riley continued. Myrtle nodded.

"How could my grandmother have two magical children?" Riley asked, confused.

"Petunia is a squib. Your mother and Lily were pure blood." Myrtle said. Riley stood there, and then ran out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Hermione yelled, still standing across from the stall.

"Practice!" Riley answered. Hermione turned to face Myrtle, who was shaking her head.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, but you haven't been down here to see me at all," Myrtle crossed her transparent arms over her chest. Hermione gave her a weak smile.

"Sorry, it's nothing personal," Hermione whispered, "It's just something is going on with everyone's wands! I lost my power!" Before Myrtle had a chance to reply, Hermione had wandered off.

All students who had lost their magic were required to attend all classes. Not being able to do anything really bothered Hermione. She would fidget, and wiggle all through the classes, while many others performed magic. Malfoy was also very upset.

"How could this happen to _me_?" he kept crying. Riley would pat him on the back and reassure him that his powers would return, but no one was completely sure that would happen.

* * *

Before long, less than half of the Hogwarts students still had their powers. The teachers were starting to become restless. The students who still had their magic were upset as well. A person could have their power at breakfast but then come to lunch and have it gone. Riley, Ron, and Harry still had wands that worked. Hermione was really furious that she couldn't find an answer to the biggest question of all. What was this plague, or spell that was being spread throughout Hogwarts? They were all about to find out something much more horrible.

"My parents just wrote to me! They said that nobody except me in our family has their magic!" Ron yelled, as he entered the Great Hall. Hermione ran up to him, and snatched the letter. She skimmed through it, and handed back to Ron. Harry also read it. As the owls came and dropped off their letters, more and more people were becoming panicked.

"My sister, she lost her magic!" Riley screamed, slapping her hand over her opened mouth. Riley took the other paper attached to the letter, and read it quickly.

"Omigoodness! Hermione look at your Daily Prophet!" Hermione grabbed the crumpled paper from an old brown owl. The owl's feathers rippled, and it took off through the opened window on the ceiling.

"Listen to this," Hermione wailed, " Many people have been hit by some sort of sickness, plague, or something otherwise. Wizards and witches are putting away their wands, and wondering if they may ever take them out again. Many pureblood families have called in and told the Ministry that their magic has stopped. Many famous names like Malfoy, Crabbe, Corcoran, Jacobson, Goyle, Weasley, Mayor, Lockhart, and even Gerone have lost all magic…"

Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry has also been hit by this epidemic," Riley continued, reading from her own copy of the weekly paper, "No one has been able to figure out why the students have been losing their powers everyday. Some say it is some kind of illegal spell, and others say it is just a disease. The Ministry of Magic is trying to answer the many questions civilians have been asking. Many people believe it is the work of the past dark lord he-who-must-not-be-named, but one fact has gotten in the way of that well known theory. Harry Potter, who was once attacked by the dark lord himself, has not been touched by the plague. He still has all his magical abilities, and so does his newly found cousin, Riley Evans, who is the daughter of Severus Snape, the hogwarts defense against the dark arts teacher. No proof of anything has been recovered, but the ministry is assuring people that their magic will return shortly." Riley threw the paper down on the table.

"How would they know? Nobody knows," Riley said, trying not to raise her voice to high. No one answered her question. She didn't expect anyone to. Ron was open-mouthed and he just stared blankly at the Hufflepuffs.

"Everyone I have an announcement to make," Dumbledore croaked. All the students stopped stuffing food into their mouths and looked up at him. His usually bright blue eyes looked a strange gray, dull color. He had bags under his eyes, obviously from no sleep, and his face was pale. Riley just realized that Hermione looked the same way. Her magic was her reputation, if she couldn't do it nobody would listen to her, or clap for her. Ron seemed to be more surprised than anything. His whole family was powerless, except him. It made him proud, but also sort of sad.

Riley suddenly saw a flash of light behind her, and she snapped her head back. A little, almost impossible to see, string of light was slithering on the floor toward Harry. It was only a few inches from him when Riley cried out.

"Harry move your leg!" Harry looked up and jammed his leg to the left. The light suddenly hit Ash Corolla, who was sitting by him. Riley breathed in, and looked at Harry. He gave her a questioning look, then turned to listen to the headmaster.

"This morning we have found out that all the teachers have lost their magic," many students gasped, "I would like all of you that still have your wands, to try magic" After everyone had attempted to use magic, many people stood up. Including Ron, Harry, and Riley. They all walked forward. When they reached Dumbledore, they shot him pathetic smiles.

"Um, I forgot my wand," Riley whispered. Both of the boys agreed with her. Dumbledore gave them a weak smile.

"Go get them then." They all stepped out of the room. They could still hear him talking.

"All of you will be going home tomorrow, because no one's wand works," there was a huge uproar in the Great Hall, "I am so terribly sorry, but you will all spend the day packing." Gasps and screams filled their ears. All three of them shook their heads, and hurried up to their dormitories. Harry and Ron turned to one side and Riley went the other way. Ron ran in first to grab his wand, and then Harry came in. He grabbed his wand that was lying on his desk and he realized something that he hadn't before. He realized something big.


	15. The Forgotten Curse

"Riley!" Harry screamed, as he ran toward her door. She ran out and met his eyes.

"What?" Riley asked, out of breath. Harry took a moment to breathe and then started to speak.

"Do you still have the letter Zelda wrote to Hermione?" Riley thought for a moment, then turned and ran to her desk. She slipped a piece of paper, out of a cardboard box and handed it to Harry. When Harry read the letter, he gasped. Riley glanced at the letter and shrugged her shoulders. Harry turned the paper toward her and pointed to the g's.

"Look at that G!" Harry yelled, placing his finger on the small piece of paper.

"What wrong with it?" Riley looked closer, but didn't understand.

"There is only one person I have ever seen make their G's like that! Tom Riddle! He's…" Harry got interrupted.

"I know who he is! He came to me too Harry!" Riley screamed, throwing her arms in the air.

"Voldemort has really out done himself this time!" Harry nodded in agreement, and went to get Ron. He wasn't on his room. Harry and Riley ran out of the common room, and looked around. The halls were deserted, because everyone was in the Great Hall eating. It started to rain. The halls got really dark, and Harry knew something was wrong.

"He's got everyone, except us in the Great Hall! This is the perfect time to attack! Everyone is powerless," Harry whispered to Riley, trying not to be loud. Riley broke into a jog, and made it to the back way into the Great Hall. Harry and Riley crept into the room where everyone had met to learn the news about Ron and Riley last year. Just beyond that door, everyone was eating. A sudden flash of light, nearly blinded them, and they flew backward into the couches. Riley opened her eyes and looked around her. Nothing had changed. She sat up and looked at the door. Now there was blue light coming through the cracks of the door. She could feel Harry coming behind her. He asked if they should open the door, and Riley replied, "no".

"We don't know what is in there, or who is in there," she said, peeking out from behind the huge couch.

"Now what are we going to do? No Ron, and no Hermione, and worst of all," Harry was saying, "No Dumbledore." Riley bit her lip and stood up on wobbly ankles. She took her wand out of her robes and whispered some sort of spell. The door was see-through. Harry and Riley could see inside the Great Hall, without the people inside knowing.

"That is bloody cool," Harry said, touching the hard door. Riley slapped his hand away and peered inside. The teachers and students were panicking, but Dumbledore seemed to be sitting quietly. Riley and Harry both knew that we were not in that room. That seemed to ease him a bit. Harry looked beside him and saw that Riley was gone.

* * *

In the Great Hall, students were knocking on the thin blue layer of light that was keeping them inside. Albus Dumbledore was searching around the room to see if anyone was missing. Harry, Riley, and Ron are outside, he thought. He sat back and relaxed. Suddenly Draco Malfoy was by his side, standing perfectly still.

"Mr. Malfoy what are you doing?"

"I'm looking for Riley." Draco put his hand above his eyes and searched around. Dumbledore shook his head, and looked at his students.

* * *

"Harry where did you go? Riley what about you?" Ron Weasley was yelling, as he searched the hallways for his friends. He opened a door to one of the rooms, and saw a man frozen. He was like an ice sculpture. Ron backed out of the room, and into another door. The sound of wings filled his ears, and he was suddenly falling. He landed in Hagrid's hut. Ron wasn't exactly sure if it was his hut though. Birds of all shapes and sizes were flying, and swooping down on him. He screamed and ran out of the big door. A whole group of birds flew out after him and spread their wings through the sir, as they flew into the darkness. Coldness was all he felt, and then a wet sort of feeling reached his legs. Ron was sitting in a pool of cold mud. He jumped up and tried to wipe as much of the dirt off him as he could.

"This has just been a wonderful morning!" Ron yelled. He ran to the doors, and tried to wrench them open. They wouldn't budge. He took both handles and pulled as hard as he could, but they still wouldn't open.

"What else could you do to me? Huh?" Ron screamed. It started to rain.

"Thanks I really need that!" Ron mumbled, trying to cover his head from the cold drops. He sat down and sulked. The rain started to pour down harder, and he became extremely cold. When he stood up, his whole body was shivering.

"Follow me!" yelled a young girl, probably about the same age as Ron. He stared at her for a few second, and then he ran after her. Mud splashed everywhere, as both of them ran around the school. The girl's hair flew back, and was drenched. Her bright green eyes sparkled, even in the dull rain. Ron thought she looked familiar. The finally reached the Whomping Willow, and the girl stopped. She seemed to be searching for something within the branches. Finally, she walked over to the wall, and tapped it with her wand. Ron got thrust forward, and he was suddenly in the school. The girl was sitting on the floor stretching.

"Hello," she said, bending into a split. Ron nodded, and stared at her.

"Who are you?" Ron asked, sounding slightly rude. The girl turned and smiled.

"I'm Lily Evans, and you must be Ronald Weasley," Lily replied. Ron's jaw dropped, and he lifted his finger to point.

"Lil-Lily Evans!"

"Yes."

"But how? You're dead, but...you're my age."

"Yeah, I had to help you," Lily answered, jumping up.

"How did you know we would be in trouble?" Ron was completely ignorant.

"This is a dream I'm having, you just happen to be in it," Lily said, still sounding way to perky. Ron sighed in frustration. Then they heard a girl's voice echo through the halls.

"Where is everyone?" Riley's voice yelled. Ron looked over at Lily, who was tying her shoes. She took out her wand, and took one last look at Ron.

"Bye Ron." Lily disappeared. Riley ran up to him.

"Where have you been? Harry and I have been searching for you for a while!" Ron didn't reply. The girl's features formed in his head. She had green eyes, dark red hair, and her last name was Evans. That could only mean one thing.

"I saw Harry's mum, except she was our age," Ron spoke slowly. Riley gave him a doubtful expression, and then her face curled into a smile.

"Come on Ron let's go," Riley grabbed his arm and pulled him down the hall. She suddenly stopped. They could hear footsteps coming from one of the rooms. Then men's voices reached their ears.

"All the students and teachers are in the Great Hall," said an unfamiliar voice, "This is our time to act." Then another man spoke, and this time both teenagers knew who it was.

"We have to wait for his command." Ron gasped.

"I know both of those people," Ron whispered. Riley sighed, and pulled him into another room so they wouldn't be seen. Malfoy's father came out first, and looked around. Riley pushed Ron back, and looked out again. She saw another person following them. Riley looked down at the ground. She didn't know how to react to what she just saw.

"Come on! We got to find Harry!" Riley shrieked, pushing the wooden door open. They ran down to the Great Hall doors. The blue light was shining through the cracks on that door as well.

"We can't go in there, we could be like sucked into it as well," Riley whispered, to a frightened Ron. He gulped and nodded skeptically.

* * *

Hermione crept out of the hole, and into Myrtle's bathroom. She was thinking about her talk with Zelda. Zelda had apologized for everything. Hermione knew that she wasn't polite to everyone, but she was still nice. Zelda had obviously learned her lesson. It started when Zelda had seen Hermione sneaking out of the cage. Zelda had promised to keep it a secret, and asked if she could borrow Hermione's notes. Hermione smiled, and then realized what she was here to do. The toilets were still, and the only noise was the sound of Myrtle gurgling. Hermione tiptoed to the door, but stopped when she heard moaning Myrtles voice.

"Going so soon are you," Myrtle exclaimed, "You haven't asked me about the spell yet." Hermione turned around slowly, and looked into Myrtles eyes.

"What do you know?" Myrtle giggled. Hermione frowned, wanting desperately for her to hurry up.

"I know about every passage way, hallway, teacher, child, and animal in this school. Don't forget my fellow ghosts," Myrtle said, wearing her usual smile," By the way how did you find out about that passage from the Great Hall?" Hermione looked back at the spot where she had climbed out. It was now covered up by a scrap of wallpaper, that fell over the huge hole and path behind it.

"I've known about that ever since fourth," Hermione answered, "I discovered it in the Great Hall when I was in there alone one time. I crawled through it until I found my way here." Myrtle looked impressed.

"Impressive. I am the only one, besides you know, that knows about that little passage." She hovered over the toilet. Hermione smiled, and turned to open the doors into the hall.

"It's the forgotten curse," Myrtle spoke behind her. Hermione breathed in deep and turned.

"It's called the lost curse. Back about five hundred years ago it was used frequently to take the powers away from a witch or wizard. I have never seen it this bad though." Myrtle stopped to see Hermione's reaction, "It has been forgotten and silent, until now. I would be careful girl. There are followers all around the school making sure there are no more students, and if there are, they will be killed." Hermione gasped. She suddenly turned and ran.

"Be careful Hermione! Be careful!" She could hear Myrtle yell. Hermione searched around the hallway, trying to see any of her friends.

CRACK!

She ran into someone.


	16. Which One?

"Harry!" Hermione screamed, throwing her arms around Harry, who tried to jump back. He patted the back of her head, and pulled away.

"How did you get out?" Harry asked, his eyebrow shooting up.

"It's a secret, now where are the others? Where's Ron?" Hermione asked. Harry stood silent for a moment then told her the truth.

"I don't know," Harry told her, biting his lip. Her smile faded. She threw her hands down, and practically growled. Harry stepped back.

"Fine, lets go find them, and then we can do something about all this," she said calmly, trying not to cry out in anger. They ran up to the third floor and looked around. The gargoyle statues seemed to stare at them with piercing eyes. Hermione glared back at them, and jumped when she steeped into a cobweb. She fell to the ground and shrieked. A spider crawled up her leg, and she shook it off. Harry helped her up and they ran out of the third floor, and hurried down the staircases. Ron and Riley were nowhere in sight.

"They must be around here somewhere." Harry looked down the hall. Hermione shook her head and sunk to the floor.

* * *

Riley and Ron made there way down the corridors and up the everlasting staircases. Both of them were starting to become weak. They had to hide from many of Voldemort's followers running around the school. Lucky for them, they hadn't been seen.

The Transfiguration classroom was just ahead. Riley and Ron tried to stay as quiet as possible. They heard more voices once again, so they ducked into another hall closet. Riley pressed her ear up against the wood door to try to hear what they were saying. After the voices had left Riley pushed the door open slowly. She stepped out and sighed. Ron was just about to get up when they heard a voice.

"Well well, if it isn't miss Riley Evans," Lucius Malfoy's voice rang. Riley kicked Ron back with her foot so the man wouldn't see him. Ron backed into the closet farther, and listened intently. Riley stepped out and pushed the closet door shut. The rain pounded on the windows as Riley and Lucius glared at each other.

"My son just adores you," Malfoy's father continued, "He told me to get used to you. To appreciate you, and be as kind as possible. Of course my son is a darn fool, when it comes to the dark magic. Young lady, you are the reason why. It really bothers me, deeply." Sweat formed on Riley's forehead, as he listened. In the closet Ron was sitting perfectly still, waiting to be found.

"Speak, won't you," Malfoy's father smiled.

"Are you behind this whole thing?" Riley asked, trying to get as much information about him as possible.

"No. My lord has taken care of everything. Except I didn't know you would be out of the little cage we have," Lucius snarled, "Is there anyone else out here?" Riley shook her head.

"No." Riley lifted her chin up. Malfoy's father wouldn't let go that easily.

"If I find out that you are lying," he explained, "You will be dead. I will make sure of that. Now let me ask you once more. Are you accompanied by anyone else, or is there anyone else out of our cage?" Riley breathed in deep and gave her answer.

"No, there is no one else," Riley answered him. Lucius Malfoy grabbed her arm, and pulled hard. She cried out, but followed him. Ron watched as she walked alongside her kidnapper, not looking back. He closed the door of the closet once again. He only hoped that Harry hadn't been caught yet.

* * *

"Harry Potter and his little girlfriend," Peter Pettigrew stood in front of them, sneering. They stepped back, too scared to speak. He reached out and took them also by the arms. He dragged them down the long hallways. Hermione kept trying to pry his cold hands away from her, but it was useless. He had them in his grip. Finally, they reached their destination. The Hospital wing was dark, and unusually cold when they entered. Riley was sitting on one of the beds, looking absolutely crushed. She looked up when they entered and sighed.

"Welcome to the party," Riley whispered, "Ron is still out there though. We met and then we hid in a closet and I was the only one who got caught."

"How convenient," Harry murmured. "Well we'll just have to hope Ron doesn't get caught." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and waited patiently. Riley looked over at her and frowned.

"How did she get out?" Harry shrugged, and looked over at the door. Voldemort entered, followed by Peter Pettigrew. Lucius Malfoy gasped as he walked in.

"How did Harry get here?" Voldemort paid no attention to the question. Instead, he talked to the teenagers.

" So, I see you got out of my little trap." All three of them nodded, innocently.

"I guess you would want me to explain everything," he continued, smiling, "Well, I used the forgotten curse, no one remembers it though. It was used many years ago. Everybody has been hit with it I expect." Hermione, Harry, and Riley nodded.

"I don't feel like telling you the rest. I think I'll just get rid of you right now, and right here…" Someone stopped him. Dana Evans stood behind him, a ghostly wand in her white fingers.

"Not if I have anything to do with it." Harry, Hermione, and Riley gasped.

"She helped me in Quidditch!" Harry yelled.

"I heard her voice one day!" Hermione shrieked.

"Grandmother!" Riley yelled, clapping happily. Hermione and Harry's mouths fell open. Dana smiled, but kept her eyes on Voldemort.

"Um, my lord, I know this is a bad time to tell you this but Harry is already in the Great Hall. This person can't be Harry Potter," Malfoy's father said, pointing at Harry. Voldemort snapped into action.

"What?" Malfoy, Harry, Hermione, and even Dana said. A screen suddenly appeared on the wall. It showed many students getting ready to eat. Some were still searching around the walls of blue light for a way out. Shades of blue shown everywhere, and Dumbldore was standing up saying a speech.

"Now everyone do not panic. We will stay in here until we can get everything under control…" Dumbledore was saying. Nobody could believe it.

"So there's a copier in this school," Voldemort grumbled. Dana Evans was gone. Now the teenage witches, and wizard felt helpless. Voldemort turned to Riley, who was smiling.

"You, Riley are the only one not there," he spoke slowly, "So it must be you." Riley laughed.

"I know what a Copier is, but it is not me," Riley giggled as she talked.

"It's me." Voldemort turned to face Ron Weasley pointing a wand at him. At first Voldemort seemed a little intimidated. Suddenly Ron fell to the ground. Hermione could see blood. She turned her head away. The sight of blood made her queasy. The realization of what just happened came to her.

* * *

Ron ran down the hall toward the hospital wing, trying desperately to reach it. He fell to the ground as a blast of light came towards him. When he opened his eyes, he almost went into complete shock.

"Percy! What are you doing?" Ron yelled, he was suddenly stuck to the ground. His legs wouldn't get up, so he was paralyzed. Percy Weasley walked over to him. A smile formed on his face.

"Good-bye little brother, I will miss you," Percy said, as he pointed his wand at Ron.

"Oh no!" an old ghost suddenly called. She sent a blast towards a frightened Percy. Ron gasped, as his older brother fell to the floor. The ghost hovered over to him, and pulled him up.

"Who are you?" Ron asked. The lady smiled.

"I'm Riley, and Harry's grandmother," the ghost giggled. Lily suddenly appeared.

"Well I see you youngsters have gotten yourselves in even more trouble," Lily spoke calmly, and gently. Ron heard a bang, and started to make his way toward the door to the hospital wing. The ghosts followed him. He peered into the room. When he saw himself on the ground, he shivered.

"I didn't know you were a copier young man," the older lady said. Ron nodded. Suddenly an idea came to him.

"Dumbledore, I'll copy Dumbledore."

* * *

_Dumbldore, I'll copy Dumbledore._

That thought came to Voldemort. He frowned down at the body of the red –headed boy. _So you're alive boy, well we'll see about that now_, Voldemort thought as he ran out into the hallway. Ron, and the two ghosts were nowhere to be seen. He ran down the hall toward the staircases. There were Dumbledore, Ron, and the ghosts.

"Where is Voldemort going?" Harry asked as the evil man ran out of the room. Hermione gasped loudly and started to cry, "The real Ron must be out there! Oh no! They can't kill him they just can't!" Riley sighed and jumped off the bed.

Harry ran, followed by the followers, Riley, and Hermione. The first thought that came to his mind was what had happened to Ron. He decided to ask Riley something.

"Riley what is a copier?" Harry asked, still running fast.

"It's a person who can copy about anything. You may think that that is not very special but it is. They can make the copies do whatever they want to, and the copies know they are copies, but they know about everything and everyone around them. For example, if Ron copied me there would be two of me and my copy would know that she was a copy but like me, she would know who Hermione was and everything about Hermione. Also when they copy regular objects, they can make them come alive. It is a very rare gift to possess." They all continued down the hall until they saw Ron, Dana Evans, Lily Evans, and two Dumbledores.

"Well this is bad," Hermione grumbled, from behind them.

"Harry, honey, you have to destroy one of them." Lily Evan spoke gently. Harry looked at her carefully.

"Mum?"

"Yes darling, now you have to destroy one of them. One is the real Dumbledore and the other is Voldemort," Lily told him, quickly. Harry didn't know what to do. If he chose the wrong Dumbledore, then he would have killed one of his dearest friends.

"There is no way to tell!" Harry screamed, looking frantically between the two men. Neither of them spoke a word. Both of them just stood there. He could hear Hermione breathing behind him. Harry didn't know what to do.

Riley was surprised. She tried to think of something different between the two. There was nothing. Dumbledore's features were the same. His hair was the same length, his robes were the same color, and even his cheeks were their same level of pinkness. There was no way to decide between the two. Harry would have to guess.

"Do either of you know which one it is?" Harry asked, in a whisper.

"No," Hermione replied. Harry turned his head to Riley. She shook her head, and then looked back at the two Dumbledores. Something is different, she thought. When she started to look at them more closely, she still couldn't find anything. Riley took one last look at both of them, and suddenly realized who was Voldemort.

"Harry, Voldemort is the one on the left," she whispered, sounding scared. Harry snapped his head back.

"How do you know?" he asked, sounding skeptical. Riley acted without answering Harry. She took out her wand and sent a curse toward the one on the left. She was right. When the curse hit him, he turned back into Voldemort. Everyone's mouths dropped open.

"That was smart thing for Ron to do, I didn't know he could actually figure out how to use his gift. Too bad he won't be alive much longer to use it!"

"No," Hermione yelled. Voldemort smiled.

"Fine! I'll kill Harry first, because he couldn't even realize!" Voldemort boomed. Lily potter came and put a shield around Harry. Voldemort glared at her, and then turned his attention toward Riley. She stepped back, but at the same time, she shot another spell. This time it hit him and Peter Pettigrew. They both disappeared instantly. She sighed and turned around. Dana and Lily came over to her and patted her on the back. Harry ran over to her and hugged her, accompanied by Ron and Hermione.

"How did you know?" Hermione asked. Before Riley had the chance to answer, she was send backward. Malfoy's father was sitting there. He hit the roof with a spell and wood fell onto everyone. Hermione's hair was covered in wood chips, just like Riley had seen in Myrtle's bathroom. Everyone got up and ran toward the stairs. The pushed down the stairs, but when Riley reached the bottom, it started to move. Riley fell off the side, and was hanging down. She looked down and saw at least a mile that she could fall. She screamed as hard as she could. The staircase stopped in the middle of the air. Ron was also still on the staircase, but he was sitting down. When he realized what had happened he tried to reach Riley, but a shield of blue light blocked her. Malfoy's father walked down the steps, and walked through the shield. Ron started to bang on the shield of light, but it wouldn't let him in.

"You lied to me Riley, and I told you that I would make you die for it," Lucius told her, taking out his wand, "Say goodbye Miss Riley Evans. It's going to be a long ride for you." She looked down once more, and screamed even harder. Malfoy's father stepped over to her. He screamed the illegal curse of death, the same that was used on Harry. Riley shrieked, and let go of the edge of the steps. She fell, lifeless. Harry, and everyone else on the other side of the staircase hollered, but nothing could help Riley now. Ron took out his wand and hit Lucius Malfoy with another spell. He dropped, unconscious. Ron ran over to the edge of the staircase and looked over. Riley was nowhere in sight. He gulped and lied back, as the staircase finished it's journey over to the other hall.

When it reached the other side Ron pulled Malfoy off the stairs and threw him on the floor. He looked over at the others, and saw all of them crying. Ron couldn't cry. After what they had all been through, crying was just pathetic. Ron felt a hand grasp his ankle. Lucius Malfoy was staring up at him with pure hatred. Ron tried to get away, but Malfoy threw him off the edge of the staircase. He fell and hit the hard floor. He looked as he did when Riley had seen him. Hermione ran over to the edge and looked at her fallen boyfriend.

"No, No, No!" Malfoy fell down once more, lying still on the ground. Harry could see that Ron had brought out his wand and had performed the curse again. Ron met his eyes and Ron fell unconscious once more

"How are we going to let them out?" Hermione asked, gloomily. Nobody answered her. They all just walked, silently, dragging Percy and Lucius Malfoy behind them. They reached the Great Hall door, and stood for a moment.

"I'll open the door, and if I get sucked in or something, just tell them to get out the way Hermione did," Harry replied.

"The bigger question is what we are going to tell Snape," Ron mentioned, rubbing his sore head. He had had a minor concussion, but was well enough to walk with them to the Great Hall. Everyone agreed with him, but they decided to think about that later. Harry opened the door. They were all almost blinded by the blue light. Harry stepped inside and said the undo spell. The blue light disappeared, and they saw everyone asleep. The real Dumbledore was eating up at the teacher's table. He seemed to be the only one awake. When they entered he looked up and smiled. His smile faded when he realized Riley was gone.

"Welcome back," Dumbledore greeted them, "Where is Miss. Evans?" Everyone exchanged glances before answering his question.

"She's dead." Everyone answered, talking at the same time. Dumbledore suddenly went pale. He sighed, and looked over at a snoring Snape.

"Poor Severus," Dumbledore whispered. He stood up.

"How did you get rid of Voldemort?" Ron cringed.

"We had help from Harry and Riley's grandmother and of course Lily Potter. Also Ron had a great deal with it. He distracted Voldie by… well he is… a Copier. He copied you and Voldemort took the shape of you also, so Harry had to decide which one was you and which was Voldemort. Riley somehow figured it out, and shot a curse at him. We all dodged it and got him. He and Peter Pettigrew disappeared. But Malfoy's father was still there. We all tried to run but when Riley reached the end of the steps it moved, and she was hanging off the end of it. Malfoy blocked Ron from her, because he was on the staircase as well, and then he used the illegal death curse on her and she fell," Hermione said, talking at a fast pace. Everybody turned to look at their confused headmaster.


	17. Her Discovery

Riley woke up. She rubbed her eyes, and looked at the landscape around her. A huge field, emerald green, and a thin stretch of forest was circled around her. Standing up, she brushed the bits of grass of her shirt and took another look around. There seemed to be no wild life around at all. A cool wind blew against her, and she started to run toward the forest. Her hair whipped around her face, and the brisk air pounded against her face. She knew nothing about this place, or how she had gotten there. The only thought that was racing in her mind was of that morning. Riley thought for sure she would be dead.

"Where is this place?" she said to her self, as she reached the forest. The wind howled and rain started to fall. She tried to cover her hair, but couldn't. Suddenly she saw something orange dash by. By instinct Riley followed the bright color. The crunching of leaves was echoing through the woods, as both people ran. Riley slowed down when the orange person slowed down. She tried to be as quiet as she could. Riley hid behind a tree when she spotted the person. It was Ash Corolla. And in front of her was someone Riley hadn't expected to see.

"Hey Ash, so did Voldemort's plan work?" The other girl asked.

"Yes Tricia, but I have some bad news to tell you," Ash answered. Tricia blinked, then turned and ran behind a tree. Riley gasped when she saw the other person come out.

"Molly come on! Ash has some news," Tricia yelled. Molly looked resistant. As she emerged from the tree, she was frowning. Both girls stared at Ash.

"Someone died in the process." Tricia grinned.

"Well yeah! Hello Harry Potter! Wasn't that the whole point of this plan," Tricia laughed. Riley was too angry to yell.

"Who?" Molly asked, still looking gloomy.

"Riley Evans," Ash answered, kicking an ant off her shoe. Molly gasped, and Tricia frowned.

"Riley Evans goes to Hogwarts! No, no she's our friend," Molly explained, looking mortified. Tricia sneered.

"Well, I guess she _was_ our friend now," Tricia snarled. Riley clenched her hands into fists. She could fell her legs pushing to run, but she had to resist.

"How could you be so mean?" Molly yelled, stomping her foot. Leaves flew everywhere. Riley breathed in deep.

"It's natural I guess," Tricia laughed as she said this. Ash high-fived her and they giggled together. Molly sank to the ground and put her face in her hands. Tricia glared down at her, and then turned to Ash.

"So how has the year been?" Ash stood up straight and flattened her shirt.

"Oh wonderful," she exclaimed, "I got this girl to do all my dirty work. Her name was Zelda Corcoran! I made her fight to steal this guy named Ron away from his girlfriend. She almost succeeded also! I just love to brainwash people, it gives me a great sense of importance." Riley couldn't stand it any longer.

"A sense of importance, huh?" Riley said as she stepped out from behind the tree. Tricia's mouth dropped open, and Molly looked up. Ash tightened, and turned around slowly, a wand in her hand. Riley was smarter than that.

"_Accio wands_," she yelled. Ash's, Tricia's, and Molly's wands all flew out into Riley's hands. She smiled feeling smart and clever.

"What? no hug, Trish?" Riley spoke quietly. Tricia gulped. Ash glared at her.

"I'm not dead Ash and neither is my cousin," Riley twirled the wands throughout her fingers.

"How did you live?" Ash asked.

"I don't know actually," Riley replied, still gripping the wands in her hands.

"Of course I should be getting back. My boyfriend will be missing me," Riley continued. Tricia sighed. Riley grabbed her wand and made Tricia like a statue, and then she did the same with Ash.

"That was way too easy!" Riley screamed. Molly backed against a tree. Riley turned to her and threw the wand back. Molly caught it, and looked up at her friend.

"Thanks," Molly whispered.

"No thank you Molly," Riley answered, turning to walk away.

"Um…" Riley heard Molly mumble. Riley turned around and stared at Molly.

"Can I come with you?" Molly asked, shyly. Riley laughed.

"I have no idea where I am, but yeah come on," Riley walked down the path, followed closely by Molly. They kept walking for about an hour and found their way to Diagon Alley. Nobody was on the streets. Riley figured it was because of the spell. She screamed the undo spell as loud as she could, and people started to venture out into the road. Riley and Molly smiled at each other and ran into the owl post office. They both got an owl and a piece of parchment and Riley began to write.

* * *

Draco Malfoy woke up just as Harry, Ron, and Hermione began to eat. Malfoy ran up to them right away to find out what had happened. Nobody seemed to want to tell him anything.

"Where's Riley?" Malfoy asked. Everyone began to eat faster. Malfoy seemed to know what had happened.

"She's not dead is she?" he asked, his voice sounding a bit shaky. Harry nodded. Malfoy pulled out a chair and fell into it. Now the teachers were also getting up. Dumbledore hurried over to Snape. Snape leaned in to hear, and Harry saw his face fall. He shook his head, and looked into Harry's eyes. Harry looked down, and then looked up at the others. Hermione was sniffling, and Ron was tossing the food around on his plate. None of the other students had woken up yet so Dumbledore told them to move up to the teacher's table. They tried to eat, but they all had enormous knots in their stomachs. Ron blamed himself for what happened to Riley.

"I should have helped her! She was within my reach!" Ron said. Hermione put her hand on his shoulder and reassured him that there was nothing he could have done for her. Harry told him that too, but Ron wouldn't believe it.

"Ron! You're alright!" Ginny Weasley had woken up and was running up to her brother. She immediately knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, looking at each of their faces. Dumbledore hollered for everyone to wake. All the tables were out of the way and the students were stirring. Many were awake already, but hadn't realized that Harry and them had gotten back.

"Everyone I can not lie to you! We have solved the problem of the wands, and I will be giving them back to you momentarily. But first we must have a moment of silence for Riley Evans who lost her life trying to solve this mystery," Dumbledore spoke calmly. Many people were talking and whispering. Some were even crying. Zelda ran up to them and started crying.

"I am so sorry! Could any of you ever forgive me?" Zelda asked, tears running down her cheeks. Ron smiled, and Hermione did also. Harry nodded.

"Oh thank you! I really not that mean!" As Zelda said this Harry noticed

something.

"She really isn't! She is a great friend," Hermione said walking over and hugging Zelda.

"Zelda, where's Ash?" Harry asked, looking past her shoulder at the crowd of people. Zelda looked back, and when she turned her face was pale and she had stopped crying.

"Ash helped He-who-must-not-be-named. I thought she had just disappeared when the spell was broken," Zelda replied, "I hope she didn't escape." Harry looked at Ron and Hermione.

"Who would have ever known?" Hermione mumbled.

* * *

"Look there's Mrs. Weasley!" Riley yelled, grabbing Molly's arm, and pulling her over to the woman. Mrs. Weasley looked surprised.

"Hello Riley dear, what are you doing here? You should be in school," she exclaimed, glancing over at Molly.

"This is Molly," Riley said, pushing her over a bit, "And well it's kind of hard to explain but, Voldie came and everyone lost their magic except for me, Harry, and Ron. Then we met up with him cause everyone was trapped except for us, but Hermione found a way out so she joined us and then Ron died, but don't worry he is alive now. Then Lucius Malfoy tried to kill me and here I am." Mrs. Weasley's jaw fell, but she quickly snapped it back up.

"Molly is my name too," she said to Molly, who was acting shy. Molly smiled at the woman and then looked at Riley.

"Well you must come with me and Arthur," Mrs. Weasley continued, pulling the girls over to her husband, who had just spotted them. He grinned and then twisted his face into a concerned look. When Riley smiled, he seemed to ease up a bit.

"Well, what are you doing here Riley?" Mrs. Weasley told him the story. He scratched his chin, and then smiled.

"You can stay with us in our hotel until we can find a way to get you back to Hogwarts!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed, pointing to a large building, which Riley realized was the hotel.

* * *

A week went by, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were getting a lot of attention. None of them liked it at all. It hurt them to think about Riley. Snape was going through the worst time. He was in total shock. Something happened though that gave them all back their hope.

"Mail's here," Ron said, looking up at the dozens of owls flying in with packages, letters, and presents. He gasped when he saw Errol fly in, his left wings drooping a little. A letter landed on his lap. Ron observed it for a moment, and then started to rip it open.

"It's for all of us," Ron told the others. Then he grabbed the letter and read it. His face lit up. Hermione tried to peek at it, but before she could read it Ron jumped up and ran up to Dumbledore. Dumbledore also read the letter, while Harry and Hermione followed Ron.

"It's from Riley!" Ron yelled when they reached him. Hermione hugged Ron and Harry ran to get Malfoy. Once they were all together Ron read the letter out loud.

_**Dear Harry, Ron, Draco, and Hermione,**_

_**It's Riley! I know you guys are probably worried about me, but I am fine! I woke up in a field and then found Ash Corolla with my missing friends Tricia and Molly. I sent Ash and Tricia to the Ministry and Molly is with me! By the way I am with Mr. And Mrs. Weasley right now in Diagon Alley. I will come back as soon as I possibly can. Bye-bye!**_

_**Riley Evans**_

_**P.S. Always find the best in people**_

_**Even if they don't find the best in you.**_

"That's great!" Hermione yelped. Many of the students looked over at her. She blushed a deep red, and went over to sit down. Dumbledore stood up, smiling from ear to ear.

"I have wonderful news everybody!" he yelled, "Riley Evans is alive, and is coming back to Hogwarts as soon as she can!" The whole room applauded. All the students stood up and whistled, and laughed. Harry couldn't believe that Riley had died and came back to life, twice.


	18. Goodbyes and Good Letters

"Hey guys!" Riley called, as she entered the hallway one week later. They all ran up to her and hugged her. Draco had brought Sugarfoot and Mittens down to meet her. Sugarfoot rubbed up against her leg, and Mittens flew and sat on her shoulder. She smiled. Everyone was really glad she was back. Molly came out from behind her, and Riley's friends frowned. Molly blushed, and glanced up at Riley. Many of the students stopped to watch, before they traveled to their next classes. Harry took a step forward and held out his hand. Molly looked down at it for a second and then reached her own hand out. They shook hands and stepped back again.

"Well everyone what are we waiting for! We don't want to be late for our classes," Riley stormed past the others, carrying her tiny purse. Hermione shrugged and followed. Ron, and Malfoy also followed her, grinning. Harry started to walk, but noticed that Molly was holding back. He turned and waved her over. She took a step forward and stopped in place, fidgeting with a string that was hanging off the end of her sleeve. Harry sighed and ran over to her. He grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. She resisted a little, but finally gave in. They walked silently for a moment.

"So, are you a pure-blood witch?" Harry asked, feeling a little embarrassed. She giggled, and his head shot up.

"No, no, I'm not even a half-blood," she explained, in between giggles," I wasn't born a witch." Harry was now confused. He didn't realize that regular people could just _turn_ into witched or wizards, it didn't seem possible.

"I think I know how I became one though," Molly continued, still pulling at the pesky string," When Riley and I were seven we decided to be blood sisters. So we took a needle, that was sterilized of course, and we exchanged blood. Some of her blood was now in me, which meant that I had magical blood in me. So I figured it out when I started to do things I couldn't explain. Of course by then Riley already knew about Diagon Alley and everything, so I went along and picked out my wand." She flipped open the flap on her purse and pulled out a long circular piece of wood that shined as she pointed it toward the light. It looked like Harry's wand. All wands seemed to be the same. Molly placed it back, carefully, into her bag and pulled the flap over once again. Harry smiled, and they both ran up to catch up with the others. They heard Riley talking about her future goals.

"One of my biggest goals is to get my dad to get a haircut. I mean that grungy look is so bad! He could chop his hair off and have it be absolutely astounding, but he keeps refusing whenever I suggest it," everyone laughed as she said this. It was the truth.

"Everyone wants to know one thing," Harry told her, "How did you know which Dumbledore was Dumbledore?" Just as she was about to answer, everybody stopped. They were all frozen in place, except for Riley. She screamed, and tried to move Harry's arm. Nothing happened. She sat down and sighed. Suddenly her grandmother was standing in front of her. Riley stood up, and the fell back down. For some reason she felt too tired to stand up. Her eyelids felt heavy, and her throat was dry.

"You've been through a lot Riley, you do need your sleep." The old ghost told her. Riley looked over at her, and looked back down.

"Grandma, why didn't the curse kill me?" Riley asked, the sudden tiredness washed away.

"I'm not sure Riley. I'm really not," her grandmother told her. Riley sighed and stood up. She felt ready for anything.

"You have been through a lot and I think you will become an even stronger witch then I would have imagined. Never stop being what you are," the ghost disappeared and her friends were still asking her the question.

"Everyone wants to know one thing," Harry repeated, "How did you know which Dumbledore was Dumbledore?" Riley looked back on what happened and cringed. Everything flashed in her mind. The things she wanted to forget stayed locked up in her head, waiting to be pulled out again for viewing. She remembered the double Dumbledore scene.

"Voldmort's eyes were green, and Dumbledore's eyes were blue," Riley said.

"Beverly!" Riley called, as she made it to the London train station. Beverly, her old friend, ran up to her and hugged her. They stood there and then pulled apart. Beverly greeted everyone else.

"It feels so weird to go home after a long, surprising year," Hermione said, pulling her bags behind her.

"Yeah," Ron and Harry said in unison. Everyone laughed.

"So what are you doing this summer, Beverly?" Riley asked, suddenly very interested.

"I'm visiting Pennsylvania in America. My sister lives there with her husband and son." Beverly answered, pulling out a small picture of her sister and her family.

"What's your sister's name?" Malfoy asked, looking at the picture more closely.

"Jocelyn."

"Cool name."

"Thanks."

"Hey, there's your owl Riley."

" How did Mittens get out?"

"I don't know!" A letter was squeezed in the owl's claws. Riley gently took the letter, and put her thumb under the seal, and pushed up lightly. The letter was written very messily, probably written very quickly.

**_Riley,_**

**_Very good job! I had a feeling you could beat him! I also understand that you had a little family reunion with your grandmother and aunt. That is so exciting! Well I am still hiding, and you were right about the powder I put in Ron's box. It was the powder of the stone that gives you the power to be a copier. I knew that that could come in handy for Ron some day. I guess it already did though. I must go now, but please have a wonderful summer. I will write many letters!_**

**_Sirius._**

**_Remember to always be yourself no matter what anyone tells you._**

"Well…it's from my god father," Riley explained, stuffing the letter into her pocket. Harry smiled, and turned to Ron. Hermione was now talking to Beverly, and so was Malfoy. Riley smiled to herself, and stopped to take out Sugarfoot. The cat purred, and rubbed against Riley's arm. Riley kissed the top of the cat's head. She put Sugarfoot back and looked at her friends. It was hard to believe that they all had been through so much in only sixteen years. Riley suddenly felt pain in her shoulder. She yelped quietly and her hand flew to where the pain was coming from. Harry looked over and asked if she was all right. Riley nodded, because the pain was gone. They were heading toward Mrs. And Mr. Weasley who was waiting for all the kids. Before she got into the car she pulled up her sleeve. There on her shoulder was a scar. The same lightning bolt scar that was imprinted on Harry's forehead. It told that she was hit by a curse. Riley studied it for a moment, and then stepped into the car. The scar would stay on her shoulder forever as a memory of that horrible day, and a forgotten curse that she, like many others, could never forget.


End file.
